The White Robed Witch (白衣女巫）
by MissChestnut
Summary: Meet Naomi: Qiao YiFan's sister (cousin). She is a young figure sculptor in the industry, the owner of The White Robed Witch character, and a Glory noob. Follow her life through her point of view on how she survived day to day in the world of The King's Avatar.
1. I'm Back

(Edit 2/8/2018) Late Disclaimer (oops): This story is already set after the Chinese animation plot. Will follow light novel plot. Might contain spoilers for those who have not read/up-to-date. And will contain spoiler past the translated work since I do read the original work too; original work has been completed a few years ago already.

* * *

Hi! I'm Naomi!

...Eh? What do you mean who am I?

I have been in the story all along. Haven't you noticed? See I was here at the All-Star weekend that year when Tang Rou wouldn't leave the stage when fighting against Du Ming. There I was again stealing wild bosses with Happy. Oh, and here I am cheering for Happy at the Challenger League Finals.

...You still don't know who I am? Well, then let me tell you about my side of story from the beginning.

* * *

The plane ride from City C, USA to B City, China was a long one. Even though it was a direct flight, it was still 14 hours long. After an economy class frozen dinner - there was nothing special to note about it - it was time to sleep. Even though it was still midday outside, the flight attendants instructed everyone by the windows to lower plastic blinds. With nothing much to do in the artificial darkness, most people decided to sleep to adjust to for the jet lag that everyone on this flight would eventually suffer.

I was no different from the rest of the passengers on the plane. There was still over 10 hours before the touchdown. Without internet access, there was only so much a person could do while confided in a seat of an aircraft. At least if I had internet, I could entertain myself with Youtube or mobile games hours unend. It was really sad to think how much people were wired to their electronics nowadays.

 **x**

With nothing I could do, I also decided to get some shuteye. I paused the outdated movie playing on the tiny screen, and untangled the headphone wires from my hair. I tried to get comfortable by wrapping my scarf and coat around me tighter to keep me warm in the chilly plane.

For how uncomfortable and cramp the flight was, I fell asleep rather quickly. A memory from a long time ago surfaced into my dream.

x

"Stop it." A young boy with dark hair yelled hopelessly against the three bigger boys that circled him. "Give it back." Tears began to pour out of young child's eyes as he made a grab for his backpack in one of the bigger boy's hands.

"Make us, you sissy!" One of the bullies laughed and pushed the weaker boy back to the ground. The weaker boy sobbed harder from scraping his hands and knees on the rough cement ground. "Look at him cry." The bully smiled in satisfaction.

"This is not a nice thing to do." I grabbed the backpack easily from the boys. Even if the bullies were bigger than my brother (弟), I was still 5 years older and taller than all of them. In my first year of middle school, I towered over the first grade kids.

"If I see you guys picking on my brother again, I will report you to your teachers and parents."

With a cold glare from me, the three bullies scrambled out of sight.

"YiFan (一帆). You can't let those boys keep on picking on you. You have to stand up to them." I helped my brother to his feet, and tried to pat off as much dirt off his shirt and shorts as I could with my hands. I didn't want to make his parents worry. I frowned at his scrapes. They weren't deep, but they would be harder to hide. We should disinfect them when we get home just to be safe .

YiFan and I were not sibling by blood; we were cousins. My mom was his mom's older sister. Due to some family circumstances, my mom and I were staying with his family while my family figured things out. YiFan was super shy when we first met, but he became quickly attached to me like a younger brother. Then, we started address each other as siblings. During our time together, our moms often aww-ed at how cute YiFan was following me around everywhere like a baby duckling.

"Sis (姐)." He sniffled. "I'm not strong like you."

"You can be too. You just have to show them you are not a helpless sheep and they will stop picking on you." I said sternly.

YiFan pouted and looked away.

I sighed after YiFan refused to talk about the subject. I carried his bag and offered a hand for him to hold on our walk home. "Let's go home. Do you have a lot of homework today? We can do homework together and then you can watch me play my game."

"Okay. Yay." He cheered up immediately at the mention of the game. YiFan was so easy to please that it was adorable. Instead of watching cartoons and kids programs on television like most kids his age, his favorite past time was watching me play Glory - a game that recently came out in the last year.

"You can become strong too in the future when you are allowed to play Glory."

"You think so?"

"Yeah. When you are older and get good grades, your parents will let you play too. And then, the other kids won't dare to pick on you anymore!"

x

That scene faded and now I was in an airport.

x

"Don't leave sis. I don't want you to leave." YiFan trapped me in his little arms and refused to let me go at the international airport.

My mom and I only stayed at my aunt's for three short month before my dad worked things out in America and decided to move the rest of the family there.

"YiFan, your sister and Aunty need to go America where uncle Wang is. You want JingChun (静春) to be with her family right?" YiFan's mom reasoned with him.

"But I will miss her." YiFan furrowed his brow.

"There is QQ." My mom offered.

"And Skype." My aunt said.

"It's not the same!" YiFan pouted cutely.

"When you are older, come and find me in Glory. You remember my character's name right?" I ruffled YiFan's hair playfully.

"Yea, it's the White Robed Witch (白衣女巫)." YiFan pouted deeper while trying to smooth out his hair.

"Good, let's meet in the game once you are older okay?"

"Okay."

I made a pinky promised with the young YiFan before leaving China with my mom.

After that dream scene ended, I woke up groggily. The people seated near me already pulled up their blinds and were making loud sounds. I grimaced at the bright light in the plane cabin.

Why were people so inconsiderate, I complained in my head while trying to rub out a knot in my neck. My neck was stiff from sleeping in a weird sitting position. But this is what you get for flying economic on an international flight. I moved neck around in circles and felt a satisfying pop.

 **x**

Those dreams were really old memories of my past. Ten years already passed since those events. I was now an adult returning to China for work.

I work for a medium sized Japanese toy company in the States branch after obtaining a master degree in art. The company sponsored some of the oversea animes and also produced action figures from various cartoons, animes, comics, video games, and movies. As for me, I mainly work on art concept for upcoming toys or figures, or promo artworks. Occasionally, I would given some small figurine project to sculpt. To expand their business overseas, they started a collaboration with the one of the biggest video game titles, Glory. With me being Chinese and had some Glory background, they deemed me one of the few individuals appropriate to send overseas for the collaboration along with a few others.

Under normal circumstances, I would have turned down the opportunity since my immediate family, friends, pets, and life were all in the States. However, I just broke off my engagement to my cheating fiancée. The pain and wound were still too fresh. The whole event made me unable to stand staying in the same country as him, so I used this job opportunity to escape far, far away from the disgusting bastard.

The company had already prepared my own little apartment and work studio in City B, and they would be paying me my American annual salary. Overall, it was not a bad gig at all. Being paid an U.S. salary was a huge advantage; this ensured that I would live fairly very comfortable life in China. In general, the cost of living in China would be much lower than the States.

I opened the plastic window cover and looked out at the plane's massive wing. We were currently flying above some snow clouds, and were about 30 minutes from descending. It was a bit bittersweet to return to China. Shortly after going to America, my family lost touch with my aunt's side of the family due to the time difference and poor Internet services in America.

I never fulfilled my promise to YiFan of meeting him in Glory because when I finally had decent Internet service to play Glory, I had to quit the game due to massive online drama.

After winning a design submission type of contest during the 1st anniversary of the game, I received a set of special equipment from Glory. The equipment was made according to the custom designs and customized special properties that were submitted for the contest entry. Because of the uniqueness properties of the equipment set offered to my character, the White Robed Witch, people started to call me and reported me as a hacker. Also because of me, that was the first and last time Glory held that contest.

Even with an official announcement from Glory saying that my character was a legitimate character that had shown no signs of hacking, people still would only believe what they wanted to believe. I was kicked out of my guild, and shunned by other players. No one wanted to risk of having a possible hacked character in their party because the punishment for hacking and helping an hacker in Glory was account deletion.

There were only few online friends that would play with me in game after that. These friends knew of my special equipment set and didn't mind the god like stats at all. One of them had even helped me designed all of it. Maybe they didn't mind because no matter now good my equipment was, I was still a noob in comparison. All of them could still beat me in PvP easily despite the equipment advantage.

Most of my friend would go easy on me during PvP and win with a small margin so I wouldn't feel as bad about losing, but one guy was ruthless and straight to the point. He was someone I dubbed the living breathing Glory online encyclopedia. If I had any questions, asking him was much easier and more accurate than searching for random guides online.

But due to time difference and rise of professional glory players, I went from rarely able play with them to not able to play with them at all. After enduring the harsh online treatment for over a year after trying to restart playing Glory, I finally decided to bid my online friends goodbye and left the game. Even though I stopped playing the Glory for a long time, I still kept my account card on my person at all times due to all the good memories I associated with it.

x

I wondered if YiFan tried to find me on Glory. Was he sad or disappointed when he couldn't find me in game? How was he right now? Would I run into him during my time working in city B?

Recently, my mom was finally able to get in touch with my aunt's side again. My aunt told us that YiFan was currently trying to make it was a pro Glory player in City B. It seemed like I had left a very deep impression in him when he was younger.

Ever since I left, all YiFan would talk about was wanting to play Glory. After years of asking, Aunty and Uncle finally agreed to let him play 8 years later. That's when YiFan discovered he had a talent for the game, and begged aunty and uncle to send him to a training camp of a pro team he admired in city B. The pro team, Tiny Herb, saw something in him and took him in. Who knew, my tiny shy kid brother did something so amazing all by himself. Even if right now he was only a reserve player for the main team, I was still very proud of him. Even being a reserve player already means he was a better Glory player than the majority of people in China, no the world! I wonder what the bullies that used to pick on YiFan would think of him now when they see him on TV.

x

Glory pro scene was something still new to me. I left China before the Glory Professional Alliance and national competitions were a thing. I only found out about the existence of the pro scene from my friends who were recruited before I quit the game, and a strange email from Glory Co. after I had already quit.

The email had me sign away my right to compete in any pro scene with my elementalist character, White Robed Witch, due to the unfair special equipment advantages she possessed. At the time I didn't care since the only country that had Glory competition was one that I didn't live in anymore. But slowly, I noticed Glory's global presence. Glory popularity wasn't as big in America, but slowly over the years it grew into a titan MMORPG games that a lot of people in the states played too. Small local competition in the states grew into something of a national scale. The intensity of the battles wasn't any worse than China's.

Why my company had decided to send me overseas rather than develop in the states? Well it's simple actually. It was all about the popularity of players and characters. Characters that entered competition in the States were only well known in the States, but those characters in China were known worldwide. One Autumn Leaf (一叶之秋) was a name that everyone around the globe who played Glory knew. If I told you Killer was a top Glory players in the states, have you ever heard of him? Also there were just more fans in China. The company planned to make figures of famous Glory characters and sell them to the masses, thus it makes more sense to start in the Chinese market just to be safe, and then move into a global market if the responses were good.

After the plane touched down to the ground, I grabbed my carry-on and made my way out of the plane along with everyone else. I bypassed the luggage pickup line and made my way quickly to customs. Most of my things had already been moved into the apartment in city B by the company beforehand, so the only things I need on my person are things that are more fragile like my drawing tablet, laptop, and some makeup items.

I made my way through customs with no issue at all. I was already by the airport exit while everyone else was still waiting to collect their baggage. It was great to travel light. I looked around the exit for my translator and ride. Although I could speak conversational mandarin, I had trouble with harder words, idioms, reading, and writing; thus, a translator was a must for me at work. After looking all around, I finally saw the person I was looking for. It wasn't because I knew them at all; it was only because I saw they had a big sign that had "Naomi", my English name, neatly written on it.

x

"Hi~! I'm Naomi." I greeted the tiny female holding the sign in English.

My height and weight was considered pretty average in the States, but I felt like a chubby giant next to this woman. This young woman's overall physique was thin and tiny, and she had a cute and delicate face to match. She reminded me of a fairy. My mom did tell me to probably buy L or XL sized clothing in China versus S or M in the States. I was first confused at the advice, but now I can see why.

"You are Naomi?" The female replied in English with a heavy accent.

"Shi de (是的)." I confirmed in Chinese.

"You can speak Chinese!" The translator exclaimed in surprised.

"Only a little. I still need a translator for meetings and reading memos." I said switching between Chinese and English because my Chinese vocab was limited and needed to say words I didn't know in Chinese, in English.

"Oh okay, no problem." The translator took a little while to process the hybrid language sentence I tossed her way. "My name is YueHua (月华). Nice to meet you."

"JingChun or Naomi. Either is fine." I replied simply and gave her a firm handshake.

"The car, this way." YueHua said in broken English and lead me towards the exit.

x

YueHua explained many living related things to me during the car ride. She told me of a giant shopping mall a block away, work building right across the street, a grocery market right around the corner, and many eateries around my apartment.

Yuehua also gave me a company iPhone with important contacts, like her's and the department head's, already programed in. The phone language setting was set to English for my convenience. Since my personal phone doesn't have service here, I was also told I could use the company phone as a personal phone too during my time in China. She told me to make sure not to watching any adult video on it or the company would know. I wanted to ask if there were people stupid enough to do that, but decided to bite my tongue.

Although everything was interesting and important, there was only one thing I wanted to know right now.

"Where is Tiny Herb? Is it close by?"

"Eh! Already getting immersed into the job. You are really hardworking." She praised.

"Yea, sure." I wasn't sure what YueHua was talking about, but I can assume from her reaction that there was already work lined up for me at Tiny Herb.

"We will wait until the rest of the oversea team to arrive. For now, why don't you take it easy for now?"

"Okay sure." Even if YueHua didn't answer my question, I'm sure the answer is google-able. Oh wait, they blocked google in China didn't they. What was that Chinese search engine again? Oh yea, Baidu.

x

I stared out the company car's tinted window. Snow drifting in the freezing night marked the start of winter in City B. The snow with the night scene of the tall skyscrapers, taller than any I have seen in the States, was a breathtaking sight. This is only the first night. There will be many night to come for me to admire this city scene. I was scared, and excited to be an ocean away from my parents and my friends. But at least YiFan was here in the city too. I decided that I would go and check up on him sometimes before I officially started my job. It was been way too long. I can't wait to see how much my little brother has grown.

I woke up the sleeping iPhone with a push on the home button, and pulled out a slip of paper with a phone number from my coat pocket. This was the phone number I asked Aunty for before getting on the plane, and this was my only way to connect to YiFan, my only family, in City B.

I typed the phone number into the To: field in text messaging and typed the following words in Chinese: I'm back. I hoped he would see my message and respond soon. I just couldn't contain my excited smile as I pressed send.


	2. Deadlines

A/N: Hi everyone. I'm new to and still figuring things out here. Nice to meet you.

My original FF chapters are on AO3 but I decided to move my work over for a wider audience due to a friend suggestion. I will update frequently here until this this story is caught up to the chapters on AO3. English is not my native tongue, so I understand there are probably a lot of typo and grammar issues I have missed even after editing. Reviews and conversations are welcomed. I'm sure my writing and ideas are lacking in many areas, so I'd like to hear other people's feedback to see where things can be improved.

Things in () are words/characters in simplified Chinese. It might come across as squares to some people if the language patch is not installed in the operating system.

Thank you Boss Moss for the tag suggestion. TKA has been tag added to the story.

Please enjoy chapter two of The White Robed Witch.

* * *

I expected YiFan to respond to my message fairly quickly. But day after day, the messenger remained silent. Days turned into week, and then almost a full month had passed. I had been busy settling into my new apartment and work, so I haven't noticed now quickly time had flew by.

During my second week here, I officially started working at the Glory Gaming Company (Glory Co) across the street. I met the rest of the team that I would be working with.

First was Sam. In all honesty, Sam looked more like a bodybuilder than someone working for a toy company. Apparently, Sam came from the same American branch company as me, but I never met the guy before back in the States. I'm sure if I had seen him at work, I would definitely remembered him. Both his appearance and personality were very unique and loud. Despite his very athletics appearance, Sam was very good at managing, make goals, and keep everyone on track. He would mainly negotiation goals, expectation, and deadlines between our small man team and the big Glory gaming company. Thus, he was given the title of Manager of the small oversea group.

Next was Kazumi from Japanese main company for the toy company. She was in her early 30's, petite, and quiet. She liked to keep to herself, maybe because of the language barrier. But even with a translator by her side, she rarely mumbles a word to the rest of us. She spent most of the time sketching in her sketchbook. Even though she was great with pencil and paper, her true talent lies in her ability to work with 3D images on the computer. She was brought in to make never seen before TV 3D advertisements for Glory related things and occasionally asked to help with a top-secret game update planned for the future. Her position in the group was Graphic Designer #1.

Along with Kazumi, two other Japanese from the main company came with her. Aiko and Jin were a girl and boy not yet in their 20s yet. The way they both behave seemed like they were Kazumi's interns or apprentices. Any of their works needed to be approved or edited by Kazumi before they can be handed to Sam. Thus, their titles were Graphic Designer #2 and #3.

I'm mainly here because I was a figure sculptor. Because of the explosion in popularity of Glory pro-players and an increase in demand of collectable goods in China, like high quality scaled figures, I was brought in to design and sculpt the popular characters in the Glory pro teams. My given title was Sculptor #1. But because figure making took months to design and make, I was also given the odd job like making promotional materials to give to fans at events and such, and working with Kazumi to come up with new equipment designs and ideas for the upcoming, top secret gaming update. I would design something, and Kazumi and her team would make a working 3D model of the items. It wasn't hard to guess what that update could be. I signed my life away agreeing to not disclose any information I might have seen, heard, or read or the company would bury me with legal paperwork and lawsuits for the rest of my life.

The last guy on this mismatched team was an older Chinese man in his 40's named Lin. The gaming company put him in this team to do a variety of things. First, he was to act as our main translator while we were at the company office. Second, he was a hardcore Glory fan that had been playing Glory as long as Glory had been out, so he had a good understanding of the gaming mechanics and ecstatic. So, the company gave him the duty to make sure that everything we created was going to suit the rest of the fan's taste, and didn't come up with some super crazy idea that would be out of line. Lastly, Lin was to act as my supplier. He was to get anything I would need to sculpt a figure. Of course he was there to cut me off if I demanded a material that was too expensive and offer me alternatives.

As for the actual figure production, it was out of my hands. Once I have a design drawn, the prototype figure sculpted, original casts made, box designed, and the ideal materials picked out for each intricate part. Everything would then get sent off to a third outside party located in a city outside of City B to be replicated. I would get prototypes back to judge and adjust before they will be mass-produced and sold on the market.

x

During my second week at work, I understood my role in the company very quickly. Even during the first week working, projects of all sizes were piled on to the newly formed oversea group. The most urgent deadline that was coming up for me was a week from Christmas Eve. Every first weekend of the new year, Glory Pro Alliance would hold a huge event called the All Star Event. While the gaming company had been working on the event for a while now to make sure the event would be a success, they still wanted me to design some small accessories or items that can be quickly and cheaply made to give to fans at the event. This was already beginning of December. They really didn't give me too much time to work on things.

Don't get me wrong; while I'm super busy and being rushed for results, I'm also sure the rest of team didn't have it any easier than me either. Sam went to negotiated with the higher ups daily. Mizuki and her team was busy designing new never before seen graphic effects and stages with other game developers for the event. Lin was busy calling different factories that could take on last minute work for us.

It was decided a few days after I was given the project that I would make collectable pins of chibi headshots of all the All Star characters and a limited edition lanyard that had the player name printed on it. Pins and lanyards are paired by random. Those items would be given one per fans via a black mystery bag. No one would know which character item they would receive until they actually open the bags.

Just like this the newly put together office somehow met their first deadline with huge success. The day of Christmas Eve, we have all submitted in our work for the deadline. I submitted all the 24 chibi headshot of this year's All Star characters after they have been revised to perfection.

During the first month of hellish experience we all had faced, the oversea team bonded over the hardship. The night of Christmas Eve, we all went out and enjoyed an expensive lavishing dinner. We got to enjoy ourselves sometimes right? We ate and we drank to our hearts content. We didn't have to work Christmas day, so no one had a care in the world how late we drank, how much we drank, and when we got back home.

x

Once I finally returned to the safety of my nice little warm apartment one in the morning and still a bit tipsy. I had a random thought. YiFan never texted me back did he? For some reason, right now was the time I finally revisit the issue from almost a month ago.

I sprawled out on the couch in the living room half way out of my winter coat and only one boot kicked off. I took out my iPhone and woke up the dark screen. I stared at the text message screen blankly. There was just my lonesome message [I'm back] sitting there without a replied from the other side.

…Eh? EH? EH!? Why isn't YiFan responding to me? This isn't like the kid at all. Did something happen to him? I need call him right now! My fuzzy tipsy mind decided.

I dialed the number without caring that it was already past midnight. The phone rang for what felt like an eternity before it was actually pick up.

"Hello? Who is this?"

I smiled at the voice. Even though his voice got a bit deeper over the years, he still spoke in the same shy, boyish manner as before.

"Hello?" YiFan asked again, thinking someone probably dialed the wrong number. He did receive a strange message from the same number a month before saying [I'm back]. He thought the other party had already figured out this was the wrong number and that's why they have stopped messaging him. Why were they calling him again now?

"Who is that, Yifan?" A different boyish voice asked.

"I don't know." YiFan replied honestly.

"YiFan. What are you doing? This is a team celebration! Celebration means drinks! Go get drinks!" A rude male voice yelled in the background.

"I want green tea." A snobby chick's voice said.

"I want soda." A different male voice said.

"I will help you." The first boyish voice offered.

I heard the extra voices over the phone. Were they YiFan's friends? Were they having a Christmas party too? Oh no I need to say something before YiFan hangs up thinking this is a prank call or something!

"It's me." I said simply. Even it was just two words, somehow my response come out slow and slurred. Man, I didn't remember drink that much.

"Me? Who is this?" YiFan sounded more confused than before.

"Don chu recognize me no more? You free tomor? I will visit." I slurred out more words that I can't remember if I said in English or Chinese. Okay, maybe I am more drunk that I care to admit. Also, why does it feel like I'm forgetting something important in my foggy tipsy state? Hm…I will figure it out later I guess. If I can't remember then it probably wasn't important to begin with.

Before I could answer, I heard voices rushing YiFan to get their drinks. Annoying bastards, pushing my brother around like an errand boy.

"Forget it, I visit you. Be ready!" I yelled into the phone before hanging up and passing out on the couch shortly after.

x

"Eh?" There was a soft click over the phone and then a duu..duu...duu.. sound. YiFan noticed the other person already hang up on him.

"What's wrong, YiFan?" Gao YinJie (高英杰) asked his friend who had a panic look on his face.

"I not sure if someone called the wrong number or if it a stalker."

"What do you mean?" YinJie asked his friend worried.

"Some drunk random person just told me she is coming to see me tomorrow and to be ready?"

"Any idea who?" Just as YinJie asked again, the impatient seniors behind them all yelled for YiFan to get their drinks quickly.

"No idea."

"Ahahah, maybe it's the mafia! They are going to come and get you!"

"Ooo, I feel so scared for you! Haha."

The seniors made fun of YiFan like usual.

"Yea….haha." YiFan laugh along with the rest of his Seniors dryly and headed to the vending machine with his only friend trailing behind him worried.


	3. Naomi vs Transportation

When I woke up in the morning, I had a slight headache. The bright sunlight didn't help either. I knew I shouldn't have drank so much last night with everyone else. But hey, it was a celebration. Today, I'm finally going to visit my cute little cousin. I shoot a quick text for his address before hopping into the shower to get ready for the day. I wanted to make sure I would not be reeking smell of alcohol and other nasty smells when I see him.

After showering, after carefully picking out my outfit of the day, and even after I finished my natural makeup look, there was no response from YiFan's side.

"Suspicious…what is this kid doing?" I thought out loud while glaring at the innocent phone screen.

Something didn't feel right to me. I guess he could be sick, which is a possibility too. But he didn't sound sick last night. He was probably just sleeping in after having too much fun at his work party or something, maybe even sleeping off a hangover. Wait, was he old enough to drink yet? What is the legal drinking age in China anyways. Well, if he was sick or had a hangover, it gives me more reasons to visit him right?

Using Baidu, I found many usual information like all the pro players stay at the team dorm which was conveniently located in the same building as where they practice. This was the same for Tiny Herb team. Finding their team building address on Baidu wasn't hard either since the address wasn't hidden at all. A lot of hardcore Tiny Herb fans already posted the location all over other sites too.

I quickly put on my warm winter boots, and grabbed my feathered down coat, gloves, scarf and earmuffs before heading out of the door. According to the GPS, Tiny Herb building was a 10-minute bus ride give or take depending on number of stops and traffic to the other side of the town. Since I have never taken a bus before, this will be interesting.

While in the elevator going down, I checked my wallet to make sure I had enough change to take a bus. How much is the bus fee? Buses still take loose change…right? To be honest with, I really have no idea.

x

After I got to the ground floor, I made a final check that I was bundled up really well to brave the freezing temperature before heading out. According to the GPS, there should a bus stop down the street a bit. I followed the direction. While I was walking, I couldn't help feel a bit overdressed. All the young people on the street looked at me like I was some kind of zoo animal. But in my honest opinion, everyone else was just not wearing enough clothing! How can the women here stand wearing a tiny dress under a light fall jacket, and knee high boots while leaving their upper thigh exposed to the mercy of the elements with only a thin barrier of black stocking. Sure, they all looked adorable with their knocked off handbags and accessories, but I would never freeze to death for fashion. Beautiful until frozen (美丽冻人), I laughed at my own terrible pun.

When I got to the bus station, I knew I was in trouble. There were different colored bus lines going all over the city, stop names I couldn't really read, and the bus schedules were just too overwhelming. I had forgotten how big City B was. I have gotten too comfortable living in the small area that the company provided me with. I never had to go more than a block for work and to shop. For the last month, the block I lived on was all I knew of City B. Now, being able to finally venture through the city, I felt intimidated, scared, and even had thoughts to just go back to my nice cozy apartment, put on a movie marathon, and call it a day.

No! YiFan is waiting for me! I have to think about my poor little cousin who would so disappointed if I didn't show up. I steeled my determination. As I studied the bus map, I notice the bus I needed to get on already pulled away from the stop…ah crappers… and the next bus won't be for another 30 minutes… ah, f my life.

Taxi…! Taxi seemed like a really good idea right now. Sure it will be expensive as hell compared to a bus, but at least I don't have to worry about missing the stop…or do will the taxi drivers see that I'm a foreigner and would take a obscure way to the place to get me to cough up more money?

Jeez, I have trust issues…but I won't deny that at all. If you went through what I went through with the damn cheating bastard, you might start doubting everything in the world too. Who was really your friend? Are they all just pretending to not know to "protect" my feelings. BS! But that's going off topic of what we are talking about here. Now back to focusing on YiFan.

The only option left looks like was walking. The weather was cold, but the sidewalks looked shoveled and walkable. Changing my GPS for a walking route, the estimated time was only 17 minutes because the route was more straight instead of weird turns the bus route took. This was doable. Securing my scarf around my neck one last time, I walked down the street towards Tiny Herb.

The walk wasn't bad as I imagined it to be. At first I was paranoid that I might have to go down some dark shady alleys. But all the streets I took were all major busy streets. There were people buzzing all around the city on this festive day. Everyone was trying to get somewhere and at the same time really nowhere. Due to the large number of people all around me, I wasn't too worried about getting mugged in daylight now. By the time I arrived in front of the Tiny Herb, I was actually glad that I didn't take the bus because all the buses that drove by looked cramped to the brim. All the bodies were pushed and squished together in the giant elongated vehicles. I shivered at the thought of absolute no personal space and strangers touching me.

x

I looked at the security gate that kept me from Tiny Herb parking and building. I checked my phone again to see if YiFan by chance had finally replied to me, but no luck.

"Do you need something?" The security guard stepped out from his little front gate office and asked me in Chinese.

"I am here to visit family. Qiao YiFan." I replied in the limited amounts of Chinese I was able to retain from all the years living overseas

"Right. And which department would this Qiao YiFan be in?" The guard eyed me with deep suspicious.

"He is a pro-player on the team." I answered in a mixture of Chinese and English.

"Right. Listen. First, I have never heard of this QiaoYiFan person on the team. Second, You fans need to stop using family excuse to come and visit." I wasn't surprised that my brother didn't stand out too much on the team roaster. He had always been someone invisible when he was younger. It seemed like the guard had heard of this excuse from fans all the time to get in and maybe catch a glimpse of the main team. "If you are going to say you know someone, at least name someone noticeable like WangJieXi (王杰希)."

"Wang who?"

The guard looked at me in disbelieve like I was some kind of dumbass, and I looked at him completely clueless like I was some kind of dumbass.

x

In my moment of dire, a male I recognized from work come to my unexpected rescue.

"XiaoWang (小王). What are you doing here?" He asked in English after stepping out of a yellow taxi. I guessed he wanted to speak in English so the guard wouldn't notice we were conspiring something.

"Lin!" I said a bit too loudly and too excitedly. I saw Lin wince at the volume of my voice, maybe he have a hangover too. I smiled at the memory of last night when Lin and Sam had a drinking contest. They both toss down an impressive amount of liquor. Everyone had became very intoxicated at the end of the gathering; no one remembered who won in the end.

"Did you get lost or something? Do you need help?"

I took a good look at the older man. He was logically bundled up in heavy winter coats. In one arm, he carried his normal work suitcase, and a fancy grocery bag with a case of carefully packaged orange in the other. It looked like he had business inside, maybe I can ask Lin to help me get in.

"I'm visiting my family here."

"You know the security guards won't let you in for that reason…" He gave me a deadpan expression.

"But I haven't seen him for 10 years now. He is the only family I have in City B. We have been so busy at work; I haven't had time to visit him yet. I worry that he is not getting along with the other kids in the team." I rambled on and on. By the end of my rambling, Lin understood that I wasn't going to go without seeing this family of mine.

"It might a good time to introduce you to the Tiny Herb team. The company planned to have you meet with the owner and team after the first of January anyways for a project. But meeting them today also depends on you. I can bring you in, but I have no guarantee if we are able to meet with any of them " He sighed deeply. Sometimes he wondered why he was the one got stuck with this group of super young, talented, but immature group of people.

"Leave it to me. I'm good with words… only in English." I gave Lin a thumbs up and a confident smile. Lin gave me a halfhearted smile.

Lin quickly exchanged a few words with the security guard and showed his ID from work and told me to do the same. Tossing a "she is with me and the company" in Chinese to the guard, security finally let me through the metal gates.

x

"Thank you Lin~!" I said sweetly as possible. I could tell he wasn't in the greatest mood right now. Finding me here wasn't planned into his day. "What's the orange for?" I decided to change the topic completely, besides I was curious for a while too. I knew the oranges were probably a gift or at least a gesture for the holidays. But why on earth a box of oranges out of all things?

"How much would a case of orange like this cost in the States?" He asked me out of the blue.

"During the off season, around 8 dollars for this many probably. If you go super fancy like organic or something, probably 20 dollars?"

"Well, this case here is 500 yuan."

"That over 70 US dollars! Jeez, what are these oranges made of? Gold?" I exclaimed after doing a rough exchange rate in my head.

Lin finally laughed at my comment and probably forgave me for causing him trouble today.


	4. Who are You?

When we entered the Tiny Herb's front double glass doors, there was already a man in suits waiting for us. He simply introduced himself as Tiny Herb's team manager and handed us guest passes before leading us up to see the Tiny Herb's owner.

The owner's ostentatious office was on the top floor made me want to roll my eyes the moment I stepped into it. It was too big for just the one person here who doesn't do much. There were bookshelves packed with books that probably were never read and many signed posters of past and current famous Tiny Herb, or I assume since I don't recognize any of the faces.

"Mr. Lin, come in! Oh, who is that you brought? I wasn't expecting you to bring anywhere." The owner inquired with a small smile my way.

I'm sure the security already informed him of what had happened out by the gate, but this guy sure likes to be pretentious. But that's how business was done everywhere really, with fake masks and pleasantries.

"Hi. I'm Naomi. Sculptor for Glory Co. Nice to meet you. Merry Christmas." I said in English with a perfect pleasant pretense smile on my face. Two can play this game; I will not lose at this. I saw Lin shot me a look with one raised eyebrow. He smells what I was selling. I only glanced his way casually with a smile.

Lin translated what I said in Chinese, while flowering it up quite a bit from the bits I could understand. After all the greeting, handshakes, and gift giving, the two older men jumped right into business related stuff. Lin translated anything that pertained to me in the future. The owner showed me pictures of a male witch character from different angles and posing. Even without Lin translating, I knew this must be the star of the team and whom I will be making the figure for.

x

"Last year Champion!" The owner bragged in English trying to impress me while I studied the character images. The images are good enough for me to get started with sketches, but I will get what I actually came here for.

"Can I meet the team? I want to put a face and personality to the character. And see how everyone interact with the player of the character." I said with a professional, let's get down to business look.

The Tiny Herb's owner looked a bit impressed with my professionalism after Lin translated what I had said. It seems like he couldn't detect my alternative intentions at all, despite whatever he might have heard from the security by the door. Or, he was just really good at acting.

After that, the two older men talked back and forth at a super fast pace, so I had trouble following their conversation. The owner made a phone call and the manager stepped in. The owner stood up and said a few words in my way that I didn't quite catch.

"We have some business to still discuss. It will be rather boring for you. The team is having a Christmas party downstairs, why don't you go meet them there until I finish up here. He will take you there. I will be up here for a while yet." Lin explained in English.

"Okay." I made the hand signal to both of the men and the man in suit out.

x

The Suit didn't talk much, but that could just be he thought I only spoke English. Forgive me, but I'm terrible with names. I don't remember what the manager's name was, so he will be called Suit. After taking the elevator down a few floors, we went to what I assume was the cafeteria. The area was decorated in gold and red decors. There were tables stacked with plates of food. The room was packed with people, more people than just the people from the team. I assume most people that worked at Tiny Herb, that included the e-sport athletes to the lunch ladies, were here.

For the first time today, I felt awkward about coming here and doubted my life choices. Standing at the doors, I felt out of place. I wasn't apart of any of this, this team. I forced my way in, but now what? Everyone here were laughing and chatting in groups. I knew no one here besides YiFan. I can't even find him right now…what am I even doing here?

The Suit coughed to catch my attention before moving forwards in the crowd. People made way for us and greeted the Suit everywhere he went. Finally reaching almost the other side of the room, we must have reached the Tiny Herb's pro-players. The Suits called out to someone in that group and exchanged words with a strict looking young man with two slightly different sized eyes. He glanced my way a few times during the conversation that made me a bit self-conscious. In this room filled with other simultaneous conversations, I couldn't catch what was said.

Eventually, the manage gestured for me to come closer to this group of strangers and pointed to the man he was talking to, "Captain (队长), Wang JieXi (王杰希)."

"Nice to meet you."

Captain Wang JieXi held out a hand for a handshake. I shook on it. Then the captain of the Tiny Herb began pointing out and introducing the different members of the team and their accounts in the game. Again, I'm terrible with names and mass information tossed at me verbally, the only names I really caught was Captain Wang JieXi and his account Vaccaria the famed witch character in Glory, and the rest was history.

x

After being introduced to nine strangers, he finally coming to the last person on the team. I recognized that person even without the introduction. I recognized that dark hair and that boyish facial features anywhere. He really has grown tall over the years; he was much taller than me now. From his demeanor, it looks like he was still invisible as ever anywhere he went. It made sense now why the security guard didn't recognize YiFan's name at all.

"QiaoYiFan, reserve team."

"YiFan."

Both Captain Wang and I said the name at the same time.

Captain Wang along with the rest of the team turned their heads to me with a questioning look, which I ignored completely. I looked at the messy head of dark hair fondly. YiFan snapped his head up from the small plate of food he was nibbling on in the corner when he heard his name called unexpectly. He first saw his captain and then stared at me with a confused expression.

"Do you know her?" A boy similar in age as YiFan asked next to him.

"How does he know this hot chick?"

"Man, I'm jealous.

But I pushed all the conversation to background. Nothing mattered to me in this moment because the most important thing right now was in front of me. I walked briskly and pulled the now taller boy into my arms for a firm hug, and then pushed him away at arm length and gave him a glare.

"Why in the world haven't you messaged me back huh? You little punk!" I stood as tall as I could in front of YiFan, scolding him in Chinese. Yea, I'm really pissed at him.

"I-I…" YiFan was speechless.

"You what, you better have a good explanation! I was worried!"

More murmurs followed among the rest of the team members. Most of the looked stunned at my familiarity with this invisible teammate of theirs, and other complained about how unfair it was that YiFan seem to have a hot date.

"Who are you?" YiFan ask plainly...so plainly that my anger evaporated immediately. The rest of the team's jaw immediately dropped to the floor in record time. What do you mean you don't know her?! How does she know you then? The questions in their minds were obvious.

x

I started to laugh. I couldn't fault the kid for that one. It was in that moment I remember what important thing I forgot to do – I never told him in the messages who I was. It was completely my fault for over looking that small issue. I had assumed that Aunty or someone would have informed him that I was coming and would be in touch with him, but it seems like I was wrong.

"White Robed Witch." I said the four simple Chinese words like it was some kind of secret code.

"White Robed Witch?" YiFan repeated after me, and repeated the words again. Then, realization hit him like a ton of bricks and it was his turn to hug me. "JingChun?"

"One and only!" I smiled in pure delight that YiFan finally figured it all out.

"Hey, hey YiFan. You better introduce her to us." One of the older guys who was on the reserve team with YiFan demanded rudely.

"This is my older sister. Wang JingChun." YiFan explained shyly to the rest of the team.

"So she is family! Ha! I was going to say, there was no way someone of your caliber could hook up with someone like that." Another senior on the reserve team said what most everyone was thinking but wouldn't say. He looked even pleased with himself and shot me a flirty look that made me think he was too full of himself.

Guys on this team really had no filter and were so unrefined. I controlled my urges to lash out, but I was starting to have very low opinion of the people YiFan was on the team with. The only one that didn't seem to bat an eye at the conversation was the team captain.

"Miss JingChun, I have to ask for the security of the team. Did you sneak into the building by posing as someone who works for Glory Gaming Company to see YiFan?" He asked me while narrowing his eyes.

Captain Wang made a very serious accusation. I understand from the initial impression that he was a very professional guy that separated his private and work very clearly. But he was so serious that I got the chills down my back from the intensity in his eyes.

"Let me reintroduce myself again. I am Wang JingChun, an artist from Glory Co. I will be working with Tiny Herb in the near future. I also happen to be YiFan's older sister." I pulled out my work ID for proof.

Wang JieXi nodded in my direction. He seemed to be satisfied with my response for the time being and excuse himself to interact with other people at the party. The rest of team rushed me to ask me this and that, but I just wanted to spend time with my favorite little brother in the world, why is this so hard?

"I just want to spend Christmas with YiFan. Excuse me!" I said after being fed up a bit. I pulled YiFan along with me through the crowd and out of a random door. "Let's go somewhere quite!"

"Where do you want to go?" YiFan asked me stupidly.

"Let's go play Glory, I want to see your skills. We can chat while playing."

x

YiFan took me to a spacious computer lab. I assumed this was where he spent most of his time practicing with the rest of the team.

"Will you be using White Robed Witch or something else?" He asked me.

"I have my account card on me all the time."

"Let's meet up in he Heavenly Domain. I have a spare team account I can use."

"Heavenly Domain? What's that?"

It seemed like the level cap had been raised multiple times and new maps had been added since the time I had been absent from the game. That was something to be expected, but I just didn't realize how much the game had expanded in the last few years. In the end, I didn't play Glory with YiFan. YiFan and I just chatted about everything that was new to me in Glory and things I missed out in the last 10 years while I watched him play on a random assassin team account. For the record, while YiFan was good at being silent and invisible in real life, I didn't think the assassin class suited him very well in game.


	5. Professionalism

Christmas was not a major holiday in China because it was only adopted from the Western culture. Besides the one day that everyone had off, it was back to work like normal the following day.

On Christmas day, I was only able to spend an hour catching up with YiFan, and it was an emotional roller coaster. During the hour, we laughed and we cried. Just as we both dried our tears after I told him about my recent failed engagement, Lin came to the computer lab to find me to head back to Glory Co. together. I gave YiFan my address just in case of emergencies and messed up his hair more before leaving.

The day after Christmas, Lin gave me a USB drive at the courtesy of the Tiny Herb's owner. The USB was filled with in game screen shots of Tiny Herb's Vaccaria in different angles and poses. Some of the images were only barely usable, and most were completely junk. It's too bad that they didn't include any screen shots of Vaccaria's equipment screen. But there would be great risks for that type of information to be shared, just in case it was leaked to someone by accident or intentionally.

"The 8th season All Star Weekend is on the first weekend in January. If possible, can you do a sketch on a figure for that weekend? There will be a lot of people in the audience and viewers online. The company believes it would be a great time to announce the first ever high quality Glory figure on the Chinese market." Lin said hopefully.

He could read my glaring expression. Time was a huge issue here. There was less than two weeks for me to work on this before the all-important weekend. Drawing something for the Vaccaria character was not a huge issue, but the problem was it needed to be an illustration that would be suitable to make into a figure. I had to consider the balance of the figure, difficulty to sculpt, and other physics issues when drawing the artwork. I could do a random cool artwork for the announcement, but tweaking it and adjust the figure to make it look like the artwork could be a pain later on too. There was no good solution here. I know I should say no to the demand, but...

"I will try, but it might be a very rough sketch. The reference source is not great." I sighed. I'm a go-getter, it was hard for me to say no to people and work a lot of times.

"Do your best." Lin gave me a pat on the back for encouragement before heading out office for some meetings.

x

After spending most of the day trying to come up with different dynamic poses for Vaccaria and 40 pages crumbled up paper on the floor later.

"Ugh, I can't work with these reference images!" I yelled in frustration. I didn't get anywhere with the sketches today, and I can feel time was running out really fast.

"What's wrong?" Sam, the department head, asked me to see what I needed to help this process along.

"These random images tell me nothing. I don't have a good grasp on the play style or in game attitude. Is he loud? Is he calm? Would he show a smug smirk when beating down his opponent? I just don't know. I'm getting no where." I put down the pencil in hand and stretched out the cramps I was starting to have in my hands.

"Draw pose from one of pictures?" One of interns, Aiko, suggested in broken English.

"I could, but there would be no life in the drawing and figure. That's not a good product." I whined out of frustration.

"What's going on here?" Lin asked when he came back from his meeting at a factory on the outskirts of town. He noticed I was in a terrible mood.

"Hi, Lin." I looked up at him with dead fish eyes.

"Whoa, what happened to you?"

"I can't work with these reference pictures. There is no life in them."

"Hm…" Lin didn't seem to understand.

"Lin! Do you have some good news for us?" Sam's voice boomed. He also gave Lin a sturdy pat on the back that made the older man splutter from the force and stumble forward a step.

"Ahaha… the factory production issue has been resolved. So that's good news." Lin laughed nervously as he put a little distance between himself and Sam, just in case Sam decided to give him another smack on the back. "So what's wrong?" He picked up and opened up some of my crumbled up works from the floor and studied it. "Whoa. These are good. Just pick one?"

"NO!" I slammed my hand down on the table and stood up so abruptly that everyone around me jumped from my sudden outburst.

"You okay?" Lin was at a lost. Had he say something wrong?

"These are bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. I would never allow anything like these to be produced under my name." I shot a glare that Lin probably didn't deserve.

"Ah?" Lin was speechless. The month that he had interacted with the overseas team, this was the first time he had seen such outburst from anyone here. JingChun in his mind was a friendly co-worker. This was the most unusually.

"She has a very particular aesthetics for art and figures. She was chosen for her works weren't she? Trust her tastes. If she thinks it doesn't cut the line, then it probably would be for the best that it doesn't." Sam tried to intermediate the situation.

In that moment, Lin finally realized why the company hired these people. To someone like him, he can't tell if art is good. To someone like him who can't draw, everything looked good to him. But to the professionals on the team, everything needed to be perfectly tailor to the customers. That was exactly why the company hired these people at outrageous cost. Results and profit were everything.

"Anything I can do to help?" Lin calmed his heart. He was starting to understand the world of an artist a little better. Maybe the deadline for the All-Star Weekend was too impossible.

"Can you set something up with Tiny Herb so I can sit and watch Vaccaria in action during practice or something?"

"That's asking for the impossible. Every team is very secretive about their training regimen. You could be a leak to them. They probably won't risk that."

"They can have me sign some like paperwork that legally silence me or something. I can't produce quality works like this."

"I will see what I can do. I will call the owner tomorrow."

x

After two days, Lin and I went to see Tiny Herb boss again. This time, they had a stack of legal contract for me to sign that pretty much prohibits me from leaking anything about the team, building, and pretty much anything I see or hear through any means including but limiting to emails, text messages, phone calls, you get the point.

After I signed my names enough times that made my hand cramp up, I was finally allowed to follow a secretary type of woman down to the team's practice room. When we walked into the computer lab, all the team members were fully absorbed on their training tasks in front of the computer screen in front of them. Everyone was quite except the ever so serious captain giving out short but direct orders. I was starting to wonder if the guy was a humanoid robot and if he had ever cracked a smile.

The secretary directed me to a row of computers behind the players and told me to have a sit and wait. I saw YiFan sat in that roll by himself hard at work. He was concentrating on the training that he didn't even notice that I was in the room and had sat in a chair close to him to watch his screen. He seemed to be struggling a bit. Poor guy. I knew playing the assassin wasn't really his style. I'm sure the team have a lot of spare account for other classes, so I really don't know why the team keep on sticking a role that doesn't fit YiFan to him. They were setting him up to fail.

I waited quietly for everyone to finish up. Unsurprisingly, the team captain Wang JieXi finished way ahead of everyone else. He took off his headphone and immediately noticed that something was different in this room. Almost like he had eyes in the back of his head, he turned his head in my direction and narrowed his eyes in my direction. He seemed a bit unhappy that I had come in during middle of practice. I could only offer him an awkward stiff smile and wave. I'm sure this team means everything to him, and he only cares about the good of his team. But boy, I find this guy hard to deal with and a bit scary.

After deeming me harmless, he started to walk quietly around behind each of the members, assessing their strength and weakness from their monitors. When he stopped at YiFan's computer, Captain Wang frowned every so slightly. I was a bit irked. I know YiFan maybe struggling, but he was doing the best he can with the character he was given.

x

Ten minutes after the captain had finished the training module, the rest of team slowly finished up one by one. YiFan was the last to finish, which made him the laughing stock in the room. But when the captain coughed, everyone turned and saw me in the room and immediately shimmered down. YiFan finally noticed me too after he looked towards his team captain. He made an "eep" sound of surprised when he saw me sitting at the computer right besides him.

Poor YiFan. He tries so hard, but no one sees his effort. My heart really goes out to the kid.

"I heard most of the details and arrangements from the manager. I hope you keep everything you see and hear here a secret." Captain Wang really gets straight to the point doesn't he?

"I will. They already made me sign enough paper work to bury me alive." I answered in a lighthearted manner that he didn't seem to approve.

This is going to be a looooot of fun. I hoped that I would finish the designs early and get out of here soon. Sorry YiFan, it isn't like I want to abandon you here with these people here, but I just really can't get long with your captain it seems. I apologized silently in my heart.

"What do you need me to do?"

"I need study your play style to come up designs for Vaccaria."

"Deng FuSheng (邓复升) and everyone else move down a computer." Wang JieXi ordered after studying the current sitting arrangement in the room.

Everyone pulled out their account cards and shifted down a seat. The guy at the end of the had to move back to where YiFan was seemed a little disgusted to have to sit next to such a worthless person. But, since his captain had ordered it, he had to do it.

"You. Sit there." He pointed to me, and then the computer next that him that was previous occupied by the Deng FuSheng person.

"I have a name. It's JingChun or Naomi. Take your pick Captain." Regardless of his attitude, I still sat in the chair offered to me.

"Here is an extra account card you can use to watch from different views, including the god's view. I assume you are somewhat familiar with Glory?" He seemed to completely ignore my comment and handed me a random team account card. Then, he started the next team exercise.

"I'm not a complete idiot." I huffed childishly next to his professionalism, but I'm sure he ignored that comment too.


	6. Work in Process

A/N: Just realized FF is not taking taking the story format that I intended. Will be going back and breaking up the dense word vomit from previous chapters with x's.

* * *

After watching the Tiny Herb's captain practice for more than an hour, I started feeling nauseous and light headed from staring at the constantly moving screen for too long. By alternating between different views in the training program, I was getting motion sickness from all the flashing images.

"I'm going to step out for a little." Close to the 2 hours mark, I couldn't stand sickening feeling in my stomach rising up to my throat anymore. I stood up shakily and wobbled out of the room like I didn't bones in my limbs.

x

I splashed some cool water on my face to get rid of the feeling of bile rising up into my throat. I didn't know how those e-sport athletes could sit there unmoving for hours starting at the screen. It has be some sort of health risk for blot clot right? But then again, I do the same when I'm drawing illustrating on the computer I guess. Meh, job hazard I guess. Good thing I have decent insurance from the company.

When I stepped out of the bathroom, I almost knock over a familiar head of hair that was pacing at the door.

"You know, it's kind of creepy to have a guy stalking me outside of the women's bathroom even if it is my own brother."

"Ah?" YiFan flushed red to the tip of his ears. "T-that wasn't my intentions! At all! I swear!"

"I'm just teasing, chill." I ruffled his head affectionately. Man this was much easier when he was short kid. "What brings you out here? Shouldn't be in there practicing?"

"Captain said you didn't look too good when you walked out. He had me come out to check up on you." YiFan said as he handed me a cold can of Sprite (雪碧).

"Hm." I made a humming sound while I opened the can and sipped on the refreshing drink.

I was honestly surprised. I didn't think that captain would care that I had left the practice room. I thought he would maybe even be happy that I left. It seemed that guy does know how to care about other people.

"Captain is a good guy, really!" YiFan said with admiration in his eyes.

"Did you just read my mind?"

"Eh?" YiFan made that sound he would make when he was surprised again.

"I was just thinking how his expression is colder than the rock faces on the eastern islands of Moai." I said in English with a big smile because I knew YiFan couldn't understand a word of my insult directed at his captain.

"…?"

"Haha. Don't worry about it! Let's go back in. It's not good that you are missing practice." I said as I drained the rest of the can of soda and putting the container in the recycle bin.

"Sis, it's actually lunch time. The team already headed down. I will take you."

x

We took the elevator down to the same place that the team had their Christmas party a few day ago. I mean I didn't recognize the hallway getting there or the doors to the room. But I can still read sign that said 'Cafeteria' in Chinese by the door. The decorations had been already taken down and tables and chairs were returned to their usual spots. The room seemed so normal now.

When we stepped into the cafeteria, Captain Wang surprised both of us because it seemed that he was waiting for us.

"For the days you are here, you can use this meal card." Wang JieXi handed me a simple white card with a magnetic strip.

"Thank you." I accepted the card with both hands, a gesture of thanks and respect.

"After team activity starts at 1:15PM." After passing me the message, Captain Wang left to enjoy his own lunch break.

x

It was only 11:45AM right now, an hour and half for lunch. This was outrageous! I only get 30 minutes at work to shove down food before have to start working again. I'm starting to like this place. They are giving me free meals and long breaks. I must enjoy this to the fullest extent. But then again, the Glory gaming company never stated how long I could take for a lunch break, and I do usually snack throughout the day while working. So I guess it all evens out.

The cafeteria food was…mediocre. It was barely filling, bland and not tasty at all. For today's lunch, everyone have a bowl of white rice or noodles, a small plate of stir-fried veggies, a bowl of winter melon soup. Maybe it's my western taste buds talking, but I wanted something more fried! More salty! More meat! More lux! While eating, my stomach grumbled with dissatisfaction. Yes, I realized I'm spoiled. But for last year's champion team, can't they serve tastier food? I thought begrudgingly.

"Something wrong Sis?"

Ah, I must have made a face that made YiFan worried. During lunch, only YiFan sat with me at a table. The rest of the team seemed to all gathered at different tables chatting casually to each other. From my first day here, I could already tell there were definitely favorites in the reserve team and outcast. Gao YingJie on the reserve team was already seen as a gem in the new bunch from training camp. YiFan on the other hand was seen was helpless.

"No, nothing is wrong." I said as I shoved the last few bites of rice into my mouth.

At least they didn't use the cheap rice. The rice was cooked to perfection. It was fragrant and not overly soft from being overcooked. There was a slight chew on the grains, how I like my rice. Sorry for the rant on rice. I'm Asian after all.

x

I had finished lunch way before the time to meet back up in the practice room for the afternoon session. I guess even given plentiful time, I still rushed to eat lunch out of habit. What to do, there was still more than 40 minutes left.

"YiFan. Do you guys record practices?" I asked while watching YiFan eating his food gingerly.

"Yes, we keep recordings of practices and past battles to study up points the team needs to improve on."

"How do I access that?"

"You are not planning anything are you?" YiFan asked worried.

"What do you think I'm going to do? I'm just going to study Vaccaria battle style so I can think of drawing ideas."

After YiFan told me where the video files were kept in the computers, I got up to leave. I might as well get some work done instead of just sitting around and twirling my fingers.

"Do you need me to show you how to get back to the lab?" YiFan got ready to get up as well.

"Nah, you finish your lunch, I'm only going back to the lab. I will be fine." I declined his offer.

x

I walked out the cafeteria and took the elevator up to the 6th floors…and that's far as I got. The plain white walls with identical doors down every hallway were a challenge. I don't remember which hallway we took to get to the elevator. I felt too embarrassed to head downstairs again and ask for help. Oh the dilemma.

"Were you sneaking up here to get team data during lunch?" A voice I have heard enough for one day asked from behind.

"Did you follow me up because you were worried that I was going to steal team data?" I asked while turned towards Tiny Herb's oh so great captain. YiFan idolizes him, but I just don't see it.

"Were you?"

"No. I already said no before didn't I? Am I that untrustworthy?"

Wang JieXi studied me a bit before talking again.

"Why are you up here so early then?"

"I was going to go back to the lab and watch old videos of Vaccaria to get ideas for the project."

"That's all?"

"That's all." I confirmed for the Nth time.

"Follow me."

Captain Wang walked down a fork in the hallways and brought me back to the computer lab. Then he pulled up some video files of previous tournaments battles of the current season on the computer I was previously occupying.

I sat down once he finished opening up videos for me on the computer. Instead of leaving, he pulled up files on his own computer and started examine whatever data he had opened. I guess he still doesn't trust me to be alone in the lab. Oh well, nothing I can do about that.

I decided not to let the emotionless stone face affect my mood and work. I am here to work after all and not to make friends. After arming myself with my sketchpad, pencil, and eraser from my art bag, I put on the giant soundproof headphones, maximized the video screen, and immersed myself in the battles footage. The battle can be viewed from a number of different views. The one I ended up watching was from a closed up third person's point of view so I can see both characters dance around on the field.

Actual battles were so much exciting to watch than just watching the team practice maneuver skills on different terrains. There were times that I found myself on the edge of the seat because Vaccaria's movements were so awesome. He danced around the enemy on his broom, and completely confused and overwhelmed his opponent. After watching one video after the next, I started to have an idea of Vaccaria's fighting style. Elegant and complex, but each movement had a purpose. Everything was very polished and well controlled. There was no extra movement that was just for show. This was an amazing feat. I stared at the man sitting at the computer next to me in awe. I still don't like the person behind the character, but I am starting to respect him because he does have mad skills. Even a rusty old Glory veteran like me can recognize that Wang JieXi was a top tier pro player.

"You will eat a fly if you keep your mouth open like that." Wang JieXi said without even turning to look at me at all.

I immediately closed my mouth. I didn't even know my mouth was open. Wait, did he just crack a joke? Damn! His poker face, I can't tell at all. Feeling a bit defeated, I went back to re-watch the videos. But this time, I wasn't just admiring the one sided battles. This time, I pulled out my Ipod, put some Hiroyuki Sawano jam on. Feeding off the inspiration I felt from the battles and the strong beat from the music, I readied my art supplies to start capturing the perfect moments where Vaccaria looked magnificent in all his glory.


	7. Faces

A/N: New Years events part 1/3. New Years in this case = Jan 1st. Not to be confused with Chinese/Lunar New Year/Spring Festival

* * *

After I was able to sit in with the team during their training and drills for the last couple days, progress has been steady. I was happy with three of my super rough sketches inspired by intense competition battle recordings. I had a small vote in the oversea department of the company over the three sketches. With feedback from the other members, I was able to narrow down the final design.

It might sounds like everything was progressing smoothly, but the reality was I ran into a serious problem. Up to thus far, all my sketches were all faceless. Sure, video game character had emoji button they can use, but most of the time the character just had a fairly neutral face. When the face of the player is pretty much as expressionless as his game character, it was really challenging to draw in the appropriate face to my dynamic posing.

x

New Years Eve and New Years Day wasn't a huge deal in China either, but the Tiny Herb's team members was told that they can have some time off both days to do whatever they like. That was bad news for me since my deadline was only a few more days away and I still don't have anything concrete. I know I really should have just said no from the start, but I'm already neck deep in it.

I had both days off from the company too, but how can I relax any when I feel doomsday looming so closely over me? I even had to deal with major heartburn for the past week from all the stress and anxiety. Today was no different. My stomach acid woke me up this morning yet again at an ungodly time: 5:35AM the clock read. What have I done to deserve this? I tried to fall back to sleep. After trying to find a comfortable position for at least half an hour and still couldn't sleep, I finally decided to cut my loses and woke up for a nice morning shower. I'm sure my neighbors were pretty pissed at sound of running of water, but if I can't sleep, then they can't sleep either, Muahaha! JK…I'm sure these nice apartments had decent sound insulation. I mean I don't usually hear my neighbors so I'm sure they can't hear me either.

I sighed as I looked over my slightly cleaner digital sketch that I transferred over from my drawing pad. There were more lines to draws and more details to add, but I felt like I couldn't be productive at home anymore. I stared at the digital clock on my computer screen. It was only 7:25 in the morning and I'm already running low on motivation. Not a good way to start the day, I noted. I texted YiFan to make sure he was going to be at Tiny Herb on New Year's Eve before heading over on foot again.

Yeah, yeah, laugh if you want. I still haven't figured out how to use the bus system, and Taxis were pretty much impossible to catch on the holiday season anyways.

x

When I arrived at the metal gate, YiFan still haven't responded to me still. I have found from the last week that the boy was terrible at responding to text messages even though he knew my number now. I looked down at my watch, 8:10AM. It was still early; he was probably sleeping in on his day off.

"Working hard today, Miss Wang?" The guard greeted me with a wave and warm smile now that I'm a regular occurrence at Tiny Herb.

"Was bored at home and couldn't get any work done." I explained with a smile.

"Good luck on your work."

The receptions greeted me politely at the front and gave me my guest pass for the day. Then I took the regular route up to the computer lab. I already knew that the team had today and tomorrow off so I wasn't expecting anyone to be there when I entered the lab at this time in the morning.

x

"YiFan isn't here." The ever so stoic captain said without even giving me a glance when I opened the door, like usual. I'm used to this occurrence by now.

"I'm not here to see him specifically. I wanted to get a bit work done. Had trouble at home." I said as I set up my traveling drawing tablet and supplies at the computer next to him.

"Hmm." The captain seemed to be thinking about something because the tapping of his keyboard slowed down just a little before returning to the normal pace.

He and I worked in silence for a little before he stood up. Instead of leaving the room and doing his own business, he stood by me seemed to be waiting for me to acknowledge him. And sure enough when I took off my headphones and turned to look up at him, he was looking down at my screen.

"Something wrong? You don't like the pose? Is it out of character?" My heart sank. I was worried that I might have to start from scratch again. I don't have the time for that right now. The All Star weekend was only a few days away! Kill me now to put me out of my misery. I cried in my heart.

"Have you eaten breakfast?"

"What?" Did I heard him right? Where did that question come from? Just as I voiced my question, my stomach let out an embarrassing loud growl to remind me that the beast hasn't been fed yet this morning.

"You want to get something to eat?"

I see this two ways, he was inviting me downstairs for breakfast because he can't stand the noises my stomach was making, or he wanted to go eat breakfast but still doesn't trust me with all the team secrets on the computers. Yup, there goes my trust issues again; always assume the worst from people. But at least this way, you don't end up hurt or disappointed.

"Sure." I said after deciding there was no way he would let me stay in the lab by myself.

x

The last few days I have been here, things have improved. Captain Wang was a bit friendlier than before, by his standards anyways. Sometimes he would give me a polite smile instead of giving me the stink face all the time. He was a man of few words, unless it had something to do with the team or Glory.

All the other team members seemed to be very curious of me and wanted to get to know me more during meal times. Couple of the boys on the team attempted and failed to get my personal number and email, but that doesn't mean they weren't persistent. Finally, when their mighty captain stepped in, the boys finally gave up…kind of. They would still try their luck when their captain wasn't around.

"How is your progress?" Finding me at a table alone, Wang JieXie asked as he sat down across from me.

"It's going. You don't have to sit with me." I watched the man across the small table.

"There is no one else for me to sit with."

"Ah."

He was right. Most people were probably still sleeping in on a rare day off, the cafeteria was still fairly empty at the time when we came for breakfast. Besides the kitchen staff, there were only a handful of people from other departments here.

"Is that all you are eating?" Captain Wang questioned my breakfast choices.

"Youtiao (油条) and sweetened soymilk (豆浆). It's a classic Chinese breakfast." What does he have against my breakfast? In my opinion, his breakfast looked more like what a grandpa would eat for breakfast. A bowl of plain rice porridge, a small side of picked radish, two egg topped with soy sauce, and a steamed meat bun (包子).

"It's unhealthy. It is considered more of a junk food type breakfast now."

"You are talkative today." That seemed to shut this weird acting Wang JieXi up for the time being. I didn't know if I should be glad that he was making small talks, or cry because he was really bad at conversations. Since when did he become concerned about my work and me anyways?

"Let me know if you need help with anything, Tiny Herb want to make sure the release would a success."

Ah, things were making more sense in my foggy brain now. He was Tiny Herb's higher up's spy. Of course they wanted everything to progress as smoothly as possible. They probably invested quite a lot of money in this to get the company to produce their character first. The bigger success, the more profit for them too. Ah, humans are the most selfish creatures after all.

I, too, was bad at small talks outside of work related stuff. I even felt a little weird talking causally with this man I hardly knew. But if it was just work related things we were talking about, then I actually felt more at ease because I can just use my work face.

"Things are going just fine. I will show you sketches later to check if I missed any major equipment details on Vaccaria." I said with one of my generic polite work smiles that I developed over the years in order to survive working in a company. Hide your motives under a fake mask and pleasantries were common things I had to do on a daily basis, so I'm pretty good at it.

"Hn." He grunted a reply.

And the morning breakfast table conversation stopped.

x

After a short breakfast, we returned to the computer lab together. We sat down at our respective computers. He was running Vaccaria through some training modules, and I continued to work on finalizing the lines and colors. After an hour or so, two other members showed up at the lab to get in some practice. We all worked on our own things for the day. Hours past as I continued to cleaned up the sketch and started to lay down the basic colors, but the face was still missing because I still had no idea what to do.

"Looks good." A surprisingly encouraging comment came from my left as I took off my headphones and stretched my stiff muscles.

"Thanks. I still have no idea what to do with the face though." I admitted. "What do you think about when you fight opponents?"

Maybe it was because I was grasping straws for inspiration to finish the face, but it was like the first time I really noticed this man's face: his slightly different sized eyes, high bridge nose, and slightly chapped lips.

"Winning the championship." Wang JieXi said simply after thinking for a while.

"Ah." I blinked dumbfounded at the straightforward answer. Why did I expect something more profound to come out of his mouth? I understood where he was coming from. It is an e-sport after all, a competition. Everyone wanted to win. But at the same time, I don't really get it. What was that kind of feeling? Was it because I stopped playing or had no experience in the pro-scene?

I silently reached into my pocket and touched my wallet. It was the place I kept White Robed Witch's account card. How long since I actually used that card? How long since I played glory? I tried to think back to the days when I enjoyed played with my old friends, but I couldn't remember. I pursed my lips and said grimly, "…I don't understand."

"Sis, you should let me know if you are coming over!"

YiFan stumbled into the room with a bedhead with YingJie by his side. He broke the uncomfortable silence in the room. Saved by the bell! Or my brother in this case. I will take what I can get my hands on.

"If someone was awake to read my text message, you would know I was coming over today." I shot back without missing a beat.

"It was so early! Ah. Good morning Captain, Seniors!"

I laughed at his change in attitude after he noticed his captain and teammates in the room. I quickly used this chance to pack up all my things and get out of this room.

"Have you guys had lunch yet? I'm hungry. Let's go eat!" I pulled the two young boys away with me.

x

Even though I was the one who "invited" the two boys to lunch, I stayed quiet while nibbling only a little from my plates. I didn't feel hungry from the frustration of still not what to do with the face for the figure and the awkwardness I caused back in the lab. The deadline for me to finish was January 2nd, and the announcement was this weekend coming up. I'm out of time. Out of habit I made a sound that sounded like a dying animal.

YiFan and YingJie shared a worried look. They whispered between themselves about what to do.

"What should we do to cheer her up?" YingJie asked.

"I don't know. I have never seen her like this before." YiFan admitted embarrassed.

"Do you know what she likes?"

"I don't know. It has been more than 10 years."

YingJie tried to help YiFan with the situation, but YiFan was at a loss on what to do.

"What is Glory to you guys?" I suddenly spoke up and scared the two scheming boys. They both stared at me with a shocked expression that said she speaks!

"Is Glory fun? Why did you decide to go pro?" I reworded the question.

"I like the game, I think it's fun."

"Me too, I want to fight stronger people."

"Do you think your captain think the game is fun too or is it just work to him?"

The two boys looked at each other again. How did their captain come up in conversation? Was this what the world call love sickness? They have seen it happen in TV dramas, but they never have seen it in real life. YingJie smiled excited at the idea, but YiFan frowned. YiFan was glad to see his sister again, but he really wished that she stopped coming to Tiny Herb so often and seeing him being so pathetic on the team. He wanted to show her a better side of him, but he didn't know how to change. He was also worried what would happen to him and the dynamic of the team if the two did start dating. Would things get better...or worse?

"Sis, are you in love with someone?" YiFan asked worriedly.

"What? No. How did this come up?" I stared at YiFan like he grown two heads. Where do kids come up with these ideas anyways? Aren't these two a little too young still to know about dating and love and heartbreaks? I blame all the unrealized Asian dramas on the television. They put too many unrealistic love standards in the shows. Remember kids, reality isn't like what they show on television at all.

"I-I was just wondering." YiFan let out a sign of relief. It was YingJie's turn to frown; he really like the idea of something from a TV drama coming to life. It seemed so romantic!

To understand the thoughts of an e-sport player, I decided I have to what they do. I have to get back into the game.

"Hey, can you guys teach me how to play Glory again?"


	8. Changes

YiFan was super excited about the return of the White Robed Witch in Glory. But first thing that they needed to do was to find spare account cards from the 1st server. White Robed Witch could not enter the Heavenly Domain yet, so the only way the three of them could play together was on the 1st server. Tiny Herb was a big club, there were many spare 1st server accounts to choose from. The names and appearances of the characters were random and not ideal, but those didn't how the character's skills and abilities.

As for a more private place to play, we decided to all squeeze into YiFan's room because he lived alone in the two-person dorm room, and because I wanted to see YiFan's living situation too. I know he isn't well liked on the team. I had to make sure they didn't make him live in a closet under the stairs or something. YingJie went to his room and grabbed his personal gaming laptop since there were only two PCs set up in the room. Once everyone got situated, we all inserted our account cards and logged onto the game.

The two boys logged in with no issues at all. I, however, had to confirm my account with a verification code to an old email, reset my password, and update my contact information. All the joys of dealing with game security for being hiatus for a long time I guess. The White Robed Witch account has remained untouched for more than 7 years now. She was only a level 50 character because the level cap had not been raised yet when I stopped playing. Now it seemed like there were class awakening quests, a place called Heavenly Domain where high level players can gather, and a new level cap.

x

After I got all the technical stuff figured out and finally logged into the game, the White Robed Witch appeared on the home screen starting coolly back at me. It was weird to see her live on screen again.

"What did you want to do Sis?" YiFan asked from the PC besides me.

"I need to get used to the control again. Maybe we can party up and kill some random low level monsters."

"Where are you guys in game right now?" YingJie asked.

"It looks like I in a safe zone in the Fire Forest. I think I was middle of doing a quest before quitting." I opened up my world map, control slots, skill screen, and inventory to get a refresher of where I left off in the game.

I looked at my current equipment. It looked like the special set equipment was still all there and locked onto my character. This just means if I happen to die in game by monsters or other players, none of my gears would drop. The set was also non-tradable. So I can't sell it off to any other characters for money, unless I sell the whole account to someone.

x

"I'm a bit ways away, it looks like this account is in the Heavenly Domain. Don't move out of that area, I'm coming to find you." YiFan said after taking a quick look at my screen to grasp my position.

"I'm in Heavenly Domain too. I will meet you guys at the Fire Forest." YingJie said.

While waiting, I ran around the small safe zone area to get used to the controls. The map seemed empty. This was not surprising since this is an older server. Most people played on the newer servers or were in the Heavenly Domain to tackle higher-level monsters, dungeons, and bosses. I checked my friend list out of habit. It doesn't look like any of my old friends were online and some people had removed me from their friend list too. I didn't expect any of them to play the game after so many years, but there was one or two people I thought would still be playing since they loved Glory so much.

As I moved around the map walking, running, and jumping, my muscle memories for character control started to slowly come back. Once I got the basic movements down, I took a look at the skills I had at my disposal, their cool down times, and rearranged them on my hot key to what I thought made the most sense to me currently.

"Sis!" A super cute and pink female Ghostblade name Peach Blossom (桃花) with a speech bubble on top came running up to me. I received a party request from Peach Blossom shortly after. There was only person in the world who would call me that.

"YiFan?" I asked out loud in real life and looked at the player behind the character sitting next to me.

"Yea." YiFan replied with an embarrassed nod.

"I'm here too." YingJie said as he directed a chubby looking male witch on a small broom that looked like on the edge of breaking in our direction in game. From my point of view in game, it almost looked like a pig was flying on a broom. Peach Blossom was the first to noticed the incoming new character and added Braised Pork (红烧猪肉) to the party.

I was speechless when all of us had gathered. Peach Blossoms seemed like a fairly standard female Ghostblade account, but Braised Pork looked like a character made from a joke. At least the previous owner didn't literally name the character Flying Pig (飞猪) or Pig with Wings (带翅膀的猪).

"YiFan, why are you playing a Ghostblade? Didn't they have an assassin account?" YingJie exclaimed when he saw the party roster.

"Ah…I thought a Phantom Demon class would be a good support role for you guys right now."

"Good thinking! Thanks YiFan!" YingJie smiled at his friend's thoughtfulness.

"Is everyone ready to go kill some goblins?" I asked once I finished setting my keys and closed all the extra screens in game. I checked the party really quick. Both of their characters were already level 70, there would be no issue if we accidentally encountered any wild bosses. With those two alone, they can kill even the Fire Witch Cashew within minutes.

"Will you be okay killing the goblins? Their levels are mid thirties." YiFan look to me.

"There is still 15 level suppression in place, I will be fine. Besides, you guys won't just sit on your hands and let me die if I was in trouble right?"

"Of course not."

"No."

"Then let's go already." I pushed White Robed Witch out of the safe zone.

x

While I roamed among the tall trees in game, all the goblins seemed to ignore my presence. It was how the game was programed after all. The monster in the game can "sense" the level difference and usually would leave the high level characters alone unless they were provoked first. But there were some monsters that were like berserkers and would come at you once you are in their aggro range regardless of any level difference.

Too bad these monsters won't live a peaceful day today since I'm here. I quickly used Mobile Cast on myself before sending out a Frost Ball to the nearest unlucky goblin that was the first of many to die today.

The Frost Ball did not do much damage, and I didn't expect it to. That was just a love tap to get the goblin's attention. The red skin goblin became enraged after being hit with the orb. It buffed up with some skills and ran towards me with his club raised. Before it reached me, I quickly blasted it away with a Piercing Lightning. The goblin didn't get up after that.

"She is an Ice and Lightning Elementalist." Braised Pork said in a private chat with Peach Blossom on the sidelines. Peach Blossom only responded with a nodding emoji. Both boys knew these monsters would be easy for the White Robed Witch to handle, so they didn't need to be on high alert. They were only there just in case a wild boss decided to spawn.

"Don't touch the mob that I'm going to gather." I quickly said to the two at the sidelines before weaving through the trees. I shot out Frost Ball to far away goblins and used normal attacks on nearby ones as fast as I could.

Very quickly, a mob of 12 goblins ran towards me enraged. But I wasn't worried at all. With a wave of my staff, I called upon the powers of Blizzard to have ice boulders rain down on the red skinned creatures. Blizzard worked fairly well, but 3 of them did survive the assault and advanced their way to me. I quickly summoned an ice wall when they got too closed and shot another piercing lightning through the wall, killed another one. The ice wall crumbled and large chucks of ice fell on the remaining two goblins, killing them in the process.

x

"Do you know her cast speed? Do you know if she wearing silver equipments? I don't recognized any of her gears."

"I didn't know she owned silver equipments back then. Her magic attacks are fast aren't they?"

YiFan and YingJie, without much to do, continued to observe from the sidelines.

After killing indiscriminately for 15 minutes, I got used to controls, cast speed, ranges and cool down times for my skills. Killing these low leveled goblins easy and borderline boring. I'm sure the two pro players there were bored out of their minds by not doing anything, might as well put them into good use then.

"You guys want to help me with my class awakening quests?"

x

The class awakening quest was a series of four quests. A technical control test, item gathering quest, kill quest, and a class specific boss kill quest. There was a whole story behind the class awakening quest of course, but I had always been not so interested in the different background stories in the game. The stories don't affect the gameplay at all. So, I didn't feel bad skipping over cut scenes to get the quests done as soon as possible.

The first one was the jump quests that tests player's technical skills. The player had to jump up the branches of this very large tree to obtain the Golden Peach at the top to bring it back to the quest person. Any misstep from the branches can make you fall to the very bottom to start over. The developers also put in fake branches as you get closer to the goal. Those branches would break when you step on it, causing you to fall and start over again if you can't react fast enough.

For someone who just relearned the controls earlier today, I have gotten close to the top a few times. But because the sparseness of real branches at the top and sometimes lack of judgment on jumping distance, I ended on the bottom a few times.

"Do you want me to try Sis?" YiFan looked over at my screen after I let out a heavy sigh. I had fallen because I got too excited when I saw the Gold Peach in sight.

The boys had looked up the monster drops that I needed for the later quests from an online guide. They had already started to help me gathering the different monster drops I would need after the jumping quest.

"Yea. Show me how it's done, pro."

YiFan blushed to the tip of his ears from my teasing. He and I quickly switched seats. He then took a deep breath in to calm his nerves, and the look in his eyes completely changed. The YiFan in front of me suddenly felt more mature and confident, unlike his normal self. After he tested my character's movements, he already had a good grasp of White Robed Witch's movement range and speed. With précised control, he moved my character gracefully towards the top of the tree.

One jump here, and one small hop there. The way the White Robed Witch danced up the tree with peach blossom petals falling around her invoked some old memories within me. YiFan was playing the way he remembered how I used to play, although not an exact replica. Some of the character movements were jerky and awkward since he was trying to copy a play style that didn't belong to him. But no awkward movements prevent him from reaching the Gold Peach on the first try.

The beautiful scene brought emotional tears to my eyes. I used to practice so much on this character in order to develop a unique play style. I used to be the one that made White Robe Witch look like she was dancing with the enemies until their death. I finally was beginning to remember the good times and hardship I faced in Glory to recognized…to be one of the best.

"All done." YiFan announced after he landed the White Robed Witch safely on the ground. "Are you okay Sis?"

"Ah yes. That was some really beautiful playing right there." I looked fondly at the now idly white witch.

"You used to play her better. I hope to play with you someday."

"Thanks kiddo." I ruffled YiFan's hair out of habit. Oh the things he says that make my heart swell up with emotions.

"We got the items for your quest ready." YingJie said after he collected the last few monster drops.

With the help of the two Glory pros by my side, I was able to complete the rest of the quests very fast. The quest completion did help boost my Intelligence stat marginally, which help increased my attack power, and made new skills available to me. One of the news skills that I invested in was Ice Line. It seemed like an interesting skill since I was a mainly an Ice and Lightning Elementalist.

By the time we finished everything, it was already late into the afternoon. But time flew by really fast because I started to have fun playing with the YiFan and YingJie. I was quite the noob compared to them during the two kill quests, but we still had a grand time together. There were a few instances they had to come to my rescue because I argoed too many monsters, but no one actually died so it was well. It was also great to be playing my beloved character and Glory again.

"Thank you both." I turned towards the two with a sincere smile after we all logged out of the game to take a break.

"Do you feel better now?" YiFan asked.

"Yes, much better thanks to you two." I smiled oozed with joy at the moment. Playing on White Robed Witch felt like I was reunited with an old friend I haven't seen for a very long time, more than 7 years to be exact. It felt good to play again.

"I'm glad you had fun." YingJie returned my contagious smile. Oh this kid is adorable, like my little bro! I had a urge to pick him up hug him like a puppy but resisted.

x

The sky was already getting dark due to the shortened daylight time in the winter. For some reason I was really craving meat at the moment, smoky meat on a grill to be exact. Maybe it was because I have been eating too healthy lately in the dorms, so now I am craving something oily and salty over a giant bowl of rice. I was beginning to drool thinking about meat skewers and other cuts of meat over hot charcoal.

"How about I treat you both to some nice BBQ for dinner tonight? I think I saw a grill place down the street while walking here."

"That's alright Sis, grill places are pricey."

"I'm okay eating dorm food."

Aww cute, YiFan and YingJie were worried about my wallet. But I can assure them that place was considered cheap by my standards since it was still probably cheaper than a steak place in the U.S., and it helps a lot that I get paid in American dollars.

"It's good to eat well once in a while. Look at both of you; you got no meat on your bones! We are going out to eat. Go grab your coats, I insist." I ordered and didn't give the boys a way to get out of it. I'm glad the two went along with me without too much resistance. Meat must have started to sound good to them too because both of their stomachs agreed with me, and YingJie even had slight drool appear on the corner of his mouth.

x

As we made our way down to the lobby to head out, we ran into Captain Wang JieXi along with some of members of the team in the elevator.

"Where are you guys going to at this time of the day?" The vice captain Deng FuSheng asked after seeing us all geared up in winter coats.

"We are going out to the grill meat place down the street for dinner. Want to come?"

"It's…kind of expensive." Liu XiaoBie (刘小别), a member of the main team, said disappointedly.

Was it though? They team must pay the main team well enough to eat well out once in a while right? I should ask YiFan how much Tiny Herb was paying them. Can he even make a living by being a pro-player? I'm having second thoughts about this career plan of his.

"We wouldn't want to impose on your plans." Captain Wang added in.

"It was last minute plan for us too. How about this, bring the whole team and come. It will be fun. I'm in a good mood so it will be my treat. Everyone can come and eat as much as they want."

I can see some of the members in the elevator start to salivate. Some of them stared at me like I was a saint.

"That is very generous offer. But we couldn't take advantage of your kindness. We don't want to trouble you." Captain Wang rejected my offer again.

Ah, he should see the disappointment in his team member's eyes when he said those words.

"It's fine, it's fine. Just come. I have wanted to thank the whole team for tolerating me for the past few days being here. A team dinner on New Year's Eve seems appropriate. It will be fun Captain Wang JieXi! It will be great bonding time." I smiled brightly at everyone in the elevator.

Before Wang JieXi gave me an answer, the elevator dinged and stopped on the floor of the computer lab. The team members with Captain Wang followed him reluctantly off the elevator.

"Well, what do you think Captain?" I asked while holding the elevator doors open. "The elevator is going to be angry with me very soon. I'm in a super good mood right now, so please don't ruin my mood."

Buzz…Buzz…Buzz. Soon the elevator started buzzing angrily for being help open for too long.

"It would be good for the team to relax once in a while, JieXi." FuSheng chimed in after considering the team's members wants and needs.

He turned me as to read my sincerity and finally said, "I will gather the rest of the team and meet you down at the lobby in a short while."

"Yes!"

"Meeeaaat!"

Some of the team members yelled in excitement and fist pumped into air.

"Good choice, Captain. Don't keep us waiting too long now." I said with a teasing wink and quick wave before letting the doors finally close.

"Goddesses do exist in real life!" Zhou YeBai (周烨柏), from the reserve team, shouted in exaggeration and bowed in the direction of the elevator after the elevator doors already closed.


	9. Happy New Years to Me

I woke up on the day of New Years with a skull-cracking headache in an unfamiliar room. Why does this feel like a repeat of Christmas, expect this time it was worse. I couldn't remember how last night ended , and now I'm in someone else's bed. I quickly pulled off the blanket and checked my cloth. Nothing was out of place; that's good at least. My hands and legs were not bound so I can escape easily. I felt around for my phone in the dark room. The phone was by my pillow. My kidnapper must be a complete amateur or really dumb

I stared at the ceiling over me while trying to remember the details of last night, but nothing was coming back. The ceiling looked weird…and then I realized what I was looking at the bottom of another bed. I slept in a bunked bed last night. If I listened really carefully, there were soft breathing sounds coming the bed on top. Arming myself with the pillow I slept on, I got out of bed quietly, readied to blind the kidnapper with the flashlight function from my phone, and then smother them with the pillow.

BAM!

Unable to see very well in the dark and still a bit foggy minded, I accidentally hit my head on the frame of the bunk bed...really hard.

"Uuuughhhh…!" I whimpered from the floor while holding my head. Yup hitting your head very hard was not the way to treat a hangover.

The person on top of the bed woke up from the loud sound and shaking of the bed. This was no time to be weak! I must overpower my suppressor. I picked up the pillow I dropped and started to smack the person with all my strength.

"Ah! AH! That's hurt Sis. Stop!" YiFan yelled in pure terror when he was assaulted with a pillow as soon as his eyes opened.

"YiFan?"

"Yea it's me Sis."

"Oh no, they got you too." I broke down into hysterical mess.

"Sis what's going on?" YiFan became super alert. What was going on? His mind ran through all the scenarios of what was happening.

"We are kidnapped, and they got you too." I continued to sob.

"...Sis, we are in my room at Tiny Herb. You stayed the night because we couldn't get you home."

"Oh." I dried my tears with my sleeves. Oops, there was mascara stain in my shirt now. I'm sure my face looked like hell right now. But yay, I wasn't kidnapped by the Chinese mafia and sold as a prostitute! I call that a win.

"You should thank the Captain and Vice Captain when you see them today, they carried you back after you passed out at the restaurant."

"Oh." I don't remember that part at all. But that explained how I ended up waking up at Tiny Herb.

"How much do you remember from last night?" YiFan suspected that I didn't remember too much of last night, especially after the older members started drinking.

"I remember people keep on toasting me and calling me their Goddess (女神)? I tried to only take sips, but I guess I still got drunk?"

"You have really bad alcohol tolerance. You passed out after two cans of beer. You shouldn't drink in the future." YiFan told me with a concerned face. He got up and handed me a bottled water he bought for me the night before just in case I woke up in the middle of the night looking for something to drink.

"I blame your teammates, they kept on forcing me to drink." I said as I sipped the water to re-hydrate myself.

"Yea. The Captain will give them a hard time at practice tomorrow for that."

"Why?"

"The Captain told them to stop, and they didn't. Then things got out of a bit out of control. He isn't too happy about things."

"Oh, I'm going to go clean up and think about things." I said and stumbled my way to the bathroom. Great, I feel like I can't face Captain Wang right now. Maybe I should take my chances of sneaking out right now without been seen. Yea, that seemed like a great option right now. I was glad that which of the dorm room had their own attached bathroom. This meant I could hide in here until the coast was clear to run away.

x

After warming up with a hot shower, I stepped out and found YiFan up and watching old recording tournament video of other Ghostblades.

"So why are you playing a Ghostblade?"

Sure he could hide a lot of things to his team, but he was still a bad liar in my eyes.

"You knew?" YiFan blushed after being caught in his lie.

"Yea. For the record, you are a terrible liar. So bad that's just adorable." I teased the boy to make him blush even harder.

"I met a God in the game. He told me Ghostblade suits me better."

The tone of voice and look in his eyes was completely different than the one he used when he talked about his captain. With his captain, there was respect and a longing to be noticed. With this God person, it was pure admiration and excitement.

"A God huh? Who is so tacky to claim they are god." I rolled my eyes.

"He is really awesome though Sis. He is still considered one of the best in Glory. He plays a really strong unspecialized character, and he have this weapon that…"

"The best huh?" I stopped listening to YiFan after a while. I didn't mean to ignore him since it was so rare for him to talk so much, he must really admire this God of Glory person. But, I started to wonder what the current standards were for 'the best'. I knew a few really good players back in the days that were 'the best' and decided to go pro. I wonder how they were fairing nowadays. For some reason I suddenly remember an online friend who used to play a Battle Mage who I would always go to for tips and advice on various things in game.

"Sis, are you okay? You zoned out."

"Sorry. You said he was really strong. Do you think he is stronger than your captain then?"

"The last few times they fought, the Captain even have trouble fighting him."

"Oh?" That picked my interest. Someone that Wang JieXie had trouble with, that might be the key to figuring out what the great Tiny Herb captain might be thinking while playing. Part of the problem with watching the recordings was I felt like Vaccaria was either not playing at full potential or the opponents were not challenging enough.

"Do you have recordings of when he and this God fought?"

"Yea, there are recordings we made at the computer lab."

"Okay, I'm going to take a look." Feeling reenergized, I checked the time and headed out to find the mighty Captain Wang. I had a feeling he would be at the computer lab at 10 in the morning.

"Want me to go with you?"

"No need. You just keep on doing your training."

x

I skipped down to the computer room with my art tools. I had a good feeling about the day, despite how it started. My headache is mostly gone, and I felt like today was the day I was finally going to put a face on the drawing.

When I arrived at the lab, the only person present was Vice Captain Deng FuSheng. Wang JieXi wasn't here yet? That was a little unbelievable. From all I know of the man, he seemed like a workaholic.

"Morning (早)." Deng FuSheng greeted me when he saw me open the doors.

"Morning." I replied quickly as I walked to the computer I usually used.

"How are you feeling today?"

"Still a little hungover, but I will live. Ah thank you for help last night. I heard from YiFan." I said with a small bow.

"Ah, you should thank JieXi. He did most of the work taking care of you. You look very cheerful for someone who is hungover." FuSheng took note of my good mood.

"I think today is the day I will finally finish the prototype drawing." I said happily. "Can you show me the recordings of Captain Wang fought the unspecialized character? I think that will help solve my problems."

Vice Captain showed me where they kept those recordings and returned to his own computer to work on his own things.

Immediately I noticed that the intensity and level of play in these videos were much higher than the ones in the tournament recording. It was like this unspecialized character can bring out Wang JieXi's full potentials. The battle was so fast paced and unpredictable that I had trouble keeping up with all the characters and their moves. The whole fight had me at the edge of my seat. Neither character had a significant advantage through the battle and eventually the battle ended in a draw.

"To think someone can give last year's champion team so much trouble." I muttered quietly after watching some other members of Tiny Herb going up against the unspecialized character, Lord Grim (君莫笑), and completely losing like complete noobs. Besides the Captain, no one else on the team stood a chance against Lord Grim.

"Unspecialized characters are troublesome to deal with. This one just happen to be more troublesome because it's play by that guy."

I jumped up into a standing position at the voice that came directed behind me. I hadn't expect Captain Wang be there.

"Ah, morning! Thank you for helping me last night!" I said with a stiff bow at the waist.

"No worries. It's my teammates' fault for getting you so drunk. I apologize in their stead." Said the ever so responsible captain.

After the few days of interaction I had with Captain Wang and his team, I had a better feel of his characteristics. Reliable, workaholic, and have a strong sense of responsibility for the whole team. But at the same time, he carries the whole team on his two shoulders. That's why the whole team respected him so much. I however pitied him. He can only carry so much; I worry it will become a burden that will crush him one day if he doesn't share the weight with the rest of the team. But that's just an outsider's point of view, and I doubt I can reason with him about it anyways.

"Instead of apologizing, can do you me a favor?" I looked at him with hopeful eyes.

"If it something I can do, I will definitely help." Yup, the answer I expected.

"Watch a few video for me."

I dragged him to sit in my seat and opened up a video of his previous battle with Lord Grim, and I sat in his regular chair. Instead of watching the video with him, I watched the changes in his expressions. I noted the slight furrowing of his eyebrows, the narrowing of his eyes, and the clutching of his jaw muscles.

I played one video after the next until we were out of videos. Little by little, I piece together the hidden emotions he felt towards winning. I knew these videos would be key the solving my problems. In my observation, Wang JieXi was a calm player on the surface. But if you look closely at his eyes, there was a wild fire fueling him from within to win. Finally, I had a clear facial expression image for what I wanted draw to complete the figure.

"Is that all you need from me?" Captain Wang got up from the chair after he finished the last video.

"Yup. Thanks for your help." I said with a delighted smile as I switched places with him.

He nodded in my direction and went to look at some team data for upcoming tournament fights.

I opened up the art program I had permission to install on the computer for the time I will be working at Tiny Herb. I pulled up the almost finished digital drawing of Vaccaria. I took painstaking time drawing in the last details to perfection. I wanted the expression to look calm with a hint of determination to win.

After drawing in the last stroke in place, I zoomed out of the image to take a good look of the overall balance of the image. Everything was in place. Vaccaria was in a mid battle pose, swiping away his enemies with his broom. His cape fluttered around him revealing the various flasks of potion strapped to his belt, ready to be tossed at the enemy at will. Now with the face finally complete, everything finally came together to make it look like he was facing a fierce enemy to achieve glory.


	10. Only the Beginning

A/N: All-Star Weekend events start! Part 1/6. This chapter was so fun to write. I also feel like this is one of my best written chapter in the story so far. Hope you guys like it as much as I liked writing it. :)

Slightly longer chapter due to recap/dialogues from the novel. All credit for dialogues taken from novel to Butterfly Blue (蝴蝶蓝).

* * *

All-Star Weekend was upon us before anyone knew it. But all I cared about was meeting the deadlines for all the projects, even the impossible one! Some of the finer details and base of the figure still needed to be worked out at a later time, but hey they wanted something to show and that's exactly what they got. I say that was some decent work for only giving me a week and half to draw up something.

Everyone in the oversea department was invited by the Glory Pro Alliance to attend as special guests at the event due to the various contributions we made to the venue and for the official Vaccaria figure announcement to be made. The ticket for the event, travel expense, and hotel costs were all covered.

Lin was beyond excited. He had been a Glory fan for a long time, but he has not ever gone to an All-Star Weekend due to family duties. It looks like his wish comes true this year, although it was still for work. But he was just mainly there as the translator, a simple task for him compared to what he normally does. When the company told us the news, Lin stepped out excited to call up the wife and kids to let them know immediately that he was on a business trip this weekend. As for the rest of the team, this was a paid and all expense covered vacation to City S. So why not?

We should have known that the plane ticket the Alliance booked for us was probably the cheapest option available. The flight time to City S was at 7:30 in the morning on Friday. To calculate in traffic delays, travel time, check in time at the airport, we were needed to hit the road at least an hour before 7:30.

To cut down expensive even more, it looks like Glory gaming company and Tiny Herb agreed to split the cost of a charter bus to the airport. The bus was to stop by the company apartment complex at 6:00AM sharp and then leaving for Tiny Herb, and then the airport as soon as all the bags and suitcases were loaded onto the bus. Anyone who doesn't make it on time will have to find his or her own to the airport. Talk about pressure first thing in the morning.

To avoid being late for the very important bus ride, I packed the night before after I got off work. It was only for two nights in City S. I tossed together the essentials, laptop, traveling drawing tablet, and few change of outfits into a carry on bag, double-checked that I had my wallet in there, and call it good. Anything I forgot to pack was deemed unimportant, and I can just buy it in City S.

x

At 5:55AM I met up with the rest of my co-workers at the bus stop. We said our hellos, shared a yawn, and complained about how early the bus and plane were as we waited for the bus to arrive. When the bus arrived, the driver helped to load up some of the bigger suitcases into the storage space under the bus. Once everything was secured in the lower decks, we all spread out on the various parts of the bus. At least this bus had comfy seats, I noted before snoozing off.

I didn't notice at all that the bus had arrived at Tiny Herb. The team, team manager, and owner had joined us on the bus. I had slept through all of that. I only finally woke up when YiFan gently shook my shoulder and told me we were already at the airport. After muttering a quick thanks to YiFan and wiping off any drool from the corner of my mouth, I grabbed my carry on and headed out with the rest of them.

"Sis, you seemed really tired." YiFan asked as we headed into the City B International Airport as a large group.

"I'm okay. Just slept too late and woke up too early. How about you? You seem a bit tense."

"I-I o-okay."

YiFan seemed a bit nervous. But I guess it would be his first time at a huge event like this so it's all normal.

"You will be fine, kiddo." I slugged one arm on his shoulder and pulled him into a one-arm hug.

x

The team got recognized by a lot of people at the airport because we were in City B, where Tiny Herb's fan base the biggest, and they weren't exactly being discrete about it. All the team members were dressed in their official team jacket and track pants. The team as a whole or individuals on the teams were asked by fans to get pictures taken or for autographs. It seemed like YiFan was invisible even in the team uniform. No one recognized him, and he was pushed to the way back in pictures. But I thought YiFan looked cute in the official Tiny Herb uniform. I have to remember to get a picture later and sent it to mom and Aunty.

After all checked in at the airport and boarded the airplane, Tiny Herb and the rest of us split into business and economic class on the plane. At least in business class, Tiny Herb members would have to deal with fewer disturbances from fans on the planes who might be flying down to the event too.

Once we settled down in our seats, I decided to keep on napping until we get to City S International Airport. I was glad that Kazumi was the one I was sitting with. Even after a month of working together, she still remained very quiet and hardly said a word to anyone. For the ride, she brought along Japanese novel to read.

Out of everyone, I was just glad that I wasn't seated by Lin. Lin was just too excited about the whole trip. Like a little kid, he gushed over the events on the brochure we received early, courtesy of the Alliance. He also caught wind that new technology was in play for this All-Star event. It was like Chinese New Years came early for him. Eventually, the flight attendant had to asked him to quite down because he was disturbing the other fliers on the plane.

The flight from City B to City S was not a long one; it was only roughly 2 hours. When we arrived at airport, more fans encircled Tiny Herb team for more autographs, pictures, and handshakes. Since the overseas department was pretty much a group of nobodies, my coworkers and I made our way through the crowd easily and got on the charter bus prepared by the Alliance for Tiny Herb and us in no time at all.

x

After being escorted by the airport security, Tiny Herb finally it onto the bus.

"Finally made it." I smiled at YiFan when he flopped down to a sit next to me. I checked the time on my phone. "Only took you guys 30 minutes."

"There were a lot of fans." YiFan said nervously.

"So many people. But it was nice that they said they would cheer for Tiny Herb this weekend." YingJie said happily as he sat in a seat behind YiFan and I.

"Seemed like a few followed you guys back to the bus." I looked out the tinted windows of fans with their phones out, trying to get a few more glimpse of their favorite players.

YiFan, YingJie, and I talked about this and that on our way to the hotel. All the teams were housed in the same hotel. It was easier to transport, protect, and interview the teams if they all stayed together. It was easier for the Alliance to book out a portion of a hotel versus multiple hotels.

x

Four hotel rooms were assigned to the overseas department. That meant two lucky individuals would be able to have a room all to themselves. In the end it was decided that it would only be fair if the three girls pulled straws for one room, and the boys pulled straws for the other room. After straws were pulled, I managed to get a room to myself, Jin got a room to himself, Kazumi and Aiko were in one room, and Sam and Lin were in a room.

When we arrived at the hotel, got our event guest badges, and settled in to the rooms, it was only noon. Friday's event won't official start until 8PM. That gave the overseas department a lot of time to kill. Sam, being a well seasoned tourist, already organized some sightseeing spots to see and restaurant to try for the whole group as a bonding experience.

I not too familiar with the city, so I'm glad Sam went out of his way to research all of this for the rest of the group. I would probably just used the hotel wifi to surf the web or doodled on my computer a little for upcoming work until time to leave for the stadium otherwise. The rest of group had mixed feelings though. Some just wanted to read a book and other just wanted to go see the stadium already.

In the end, the group split up. Lin went to the stadium to watch them set it up. Kazumi stayed in her room to read. Jin, Aiko and I decided to be more social and met up with Sam for his planned out day. I wanted to see if YiFan and YingJie wanted to tag along too, but it seemed the team were busy with some warm up training before the event.

For the afternoon, we wondered around City S taking in the sights and trying food at interesting shops we found along the way. We walked along a riverbank and explored some plazas. Due to Sam's great planning skills, we had a very enjoyable afternoon. Even Jin and Aiko had a smile on their face today. Around 4PM, we headed back to the hotel to clean up, relax, and then meet up for a group dinner before heading to the Samsara's stadium together with some of the other teams on private shuttle buses.

"You should have seen the stadium! All the work Samsara put into it is pretty amazing! I met some of the other team there too…" Lin talked enthusiastically over dinner. He was just as excited as he was at the beginning of the day. It was like he was turned into back into a youth.

It was weird to see the oldest one of the group reverting back to a little kid. But what was more odd to see was Kazumi crack a small smile. I mean if you really squint your eyes and look careful, she had a small smile as Lin talked in detail about how impressive the new projection system and graphics were.

I knew Kazumi took part of redesigning game graphics and fine-tuning the new projection system. Maybe deep down, she also enjoyed hearing other people praise her work. I was kind of glad that she was just as human and vain as the rest of us.

x

When we arrived at the stadium close to 6:30PM, the traffic outside the stadium was terrible. The whole main street in front and sidewalks were packed with people. It was a good thing the experienced shuttle driver knew some backstreets that could get us to the back of the stadium doors by avoiding the crowd in the front. He also said we should come back to the back doors to be picked up once the event was done.

We got through the backdoors security without a problem with our special guest passes. Even the backdoors seemed to be surrounded by fans that were trying to get a glimpse of their favorite team or player. As we walked passed the security guards, there were a lot of fans that shot us glares of pure envy.

In the back stage area, different teams mingled with each other and chatted like regular friends who haven't seen each other for a while. The competitiveness was only kept on stage; off the stage, it seemed like everyone got along pretty well.

I tipped-toed and stretched my neck as high as it would go to look for YiFan in the crowd. No luck, darn why are these eSport player so tall. Height shouldn't matter in eSport so why are they so tall? I thought begrudgingly.

"XiaoWang. The Alliance wants us to head this way to get seated right now." Lin caught my attention and dragged me towards a door.

We were not put into the audience like I original thought. We were seated close to team Samsara in the pro player area. What did I expect? Since we are at team Samsara's home turf, it was only fair that the special guests were seated by the hosting team.

x

The eSport stadium was awe-inspiring. There were two stages. There was a player's stage where the pro-players would sit and play on the PCs that were set up. Then the center of stadium was the new character stage where battles will take place. Right now the middle of the stadium looked like any other plain stadium. But Lin claimed that the image tests they run earlier today were amazing. The new 3D projection that can be viewed without special glasses was the new future for Glory. In addition to everything, there were also abundant numbers of big screen TVs all around the stadium, showing every possible point of view in battle.

Slowly, all the teams filed into their assigned seating in the stadium and the stadium was packed full of people. Even without trying to listen in on people up in the stands, I could heard many people getting excited about the small gifts I designed they received in the bag with their brochures. I smiled knowing I did a good job for the event.

Right at 8PM on the dot, the whole system went dark like a blackout. Then the show started. Lin was right; the projections were amazing. The first part of the program was pretty much just showing off the new projection by showcasing each of the 24 all-star characters and their skills individually. Even Kazumi, who was still had her nose in the book previously, finally closed her book and watched the show with a full-blown satisfied smile. The crowd clapped and cheered with each character in the projection. We clapped and cheered as to tip our imaginary hats to Kazumi, Aiko, and Jin's hard work. After laboring over this since day one at the company, it must feel good to see all their hard work up there.

The projection show was then followed up with talking from the host and highlighted events of this season. I was disappointed to find out the player behind One Autumn Leaf retired half way through the season. He was an old friend I knew back on the first server. But I was still glad to know he made it in the professional circle for so long.

x

After what seems like endless talking for the event host, the main event of this evening was finally going to start. The Rookie Challenge Competition in a nutshell was the rookies of this year, who signed up to participate beforehand, go up on stage and pick a senior that they want pick a fight with. It was an event to see which rookies the fans can expect good things from in the future and such. I'm sure the clubs also secretly graded those who had the courage to go up and decide if they want to continue to nurture the young talent or cut them loose.

One by one, the rookies went on stage and picked someone they wanted to challenge. Hey look, Gao YingJie went up stage and challenged Captain Wang JieXi. It was a witch vs witch battle. It was an intense battle, but after studying Vaccaria past battle video multiple times, I can see that Wang JieXi was going easy on the kid somehow. If he played the same way he did against the unspecialized character, he would already won this match a while ago.

But winning was not what Wang JieXi wanted, he was controlling the flow of the battle so YingJie had a chance of wining. I'm not sure how, but I had a feeling that he was. Eventually YingJie defeated the mighty captain. Wang JieXi wanted to lose, but did it in a way that no one could tell. Did he do it as a sign of passing the team's future on this youth? It must be, why else was he risking so much to lose this battle. I'm sure if the Alliance finds out, there will be severe consequences.

After the battle ended, claps slowly build up until it was deafening. I stood up and applauded the two on stage, but more so for the silent sacrifices that Wang JieXi made that he thought no one knew about.

"Why are you standing?" My coworkers asked. They didn't get it.

"I just thought it was an amazing battle that's all." I said simple and finally sat down once the Wang JieXi left the stage area.

Once the applause finally died done. The host on stage announced the next challenger that surprised even me: Qiao YiFan.

"Qiao YiFan wishes to challenge the owner of the number one Phantom Demon, Sobbing ghost, Team Void's Captain, Li Xuan (李轩)!" The host on staged continue to say without missing a beat.

"Hey, isn't that the brother of yours?" Lin said out of recognition.

I could only nod silently to Lin's question.

x

…What? This is not like the timid YiFan that I knew. From looking at the Tiny Herb area, it looks like they were surprised and in an uproar too. Could it be? After he got noticed and received pointers from this God person, he got cocky? I had a bad feeling about this. I chewed on my inner lip with worry as I watched Qiao YiFan stepped on stage.

Things went as I expected…not well. YiFan was met with a devastating defeat. I stood up from my seat again, but this time for a completely different reason. I rushed out of the nearest exit to find YiFan.

I knew YiFan's heart must be shattered right now, and mine was breaking along with his. I knew all he wanted to do was prove himself to his captain, his team, and the world, but he picked the wrong opponent this time. Picking the most experienced Ghostblade player, according to the brochure and Lin, was a really bad move on his part. With this poor performance, both YiFan and I knew what would happen to him when this season ends.

I ran down numerous hallways trying to find the one that would lead me closer to Tiny Herb's area. After taking too many turns here and there, I was pretty lost. I was in a panic; I didn't know what to do. I slid down the wall to the ground with tears falling down my face. YiFan probably needed someone to comfort him right now, but I can't get to him. What do I even say to him to make him feel better? There is a chance Tiny Herb will still keep you? There is always another team?

In my moments of silent sobbing I heard voices, two male talking to be exact.

"God Ye Qiu!"

I heard someone yell and recognized that voice anywhere! I picked myself up from the dirty floor made my way towards the voices.

"Yeah, it's me. You don't need to doubt your ability. But don't think that you'll be able to catch anyone's attention right now."

I got a little closer and eavesdropped on the conversation. The hallways amplified the conversation a bit with it being so empty. Even still some distant away, I could hear their conversation fairly clearly. Using the darkness as a veil, I kept myself out of sight. It seemed that this was the Glory God that YiFan spoke highly of before. It couldn't be any better that the person he really admires was here to comfort him in his toughest moment. YiFan really have good luck it seems.

"Thank you, Senior" From YiFan's tone, it seemed like he was already somehow cheered up.

"You can do it!" This Ye Qiu person encouraged.

"What about your, Senior. Why did you choose to retire so early?"

"I'm looking for an opportunity too!"

"You're going to come back?"

"Of course! Even though I'm a bit old, I'm not done yet!" The older man turned and walked towards my way and YiFan was walking away again.

x

I stood my ground as a tall shaggy looking male with cigarette smoke sticking to him walked past me

"Thank you." I said as he walked passed me.

"Do I know you?" He asked seemly little startled that a complete stranger just thanked him for no good reason.

"No, but you helped someone I know just now."

"I only say things I mean. He does have talent."

"I know he does. I just wish his captain would see that."

"Well, Big-Eyed Wang does have two different sized eye. It could affect his ability to see properly." Ye Qiu left me with those final words and a wave before disappearing into the darkness.

I laughed at the stranger's joke. Big-Eyed Wang. I will have to remember that one. I followed the direction that I heard YiFan walk to. In the darkness, I saw bright opening with someone standing there staring in.

"The stage is bright and mesmerizing, isn't it?" I stood next to the boy who had grown so much in my eyes, both physically and mentally.

"I…I want to be there one day." There was a crack in his voice and trembling in his hands.

"You will." I can feel hot tears blurring my vision. "Just remember no matter what happens, I will support you. No matter what happens, you can come to me for help. Just remember, this is only the beginning."

I reached out and held on to YiFan's shaky hand. I'm not sure if I'm making false promises. If there was a small chance I can help make his dream happen, even if I'm not his Glory god, you can bet I will give it my all to help make his dream a reality. It's what big sisters do for little brothers after all.


	11. Sleepover

"Did you want to head back to the hotel early?" I asked once YiFan and I both dried out tears while watching the match on stage.

"No, I have to get back to my team. They will get worried."

"Mad yes, worried hardly." I huffed. From the few days I been at Tiny Herb, it was easily seen the cold treatment that everyone, minus YingJie, gave to YiFan.

"They are not that bad." YiFan attempted to save his teammates some face. But deep down, he knew I was right.

"Alright. Go back. My hotel room number is 811. You can come over if you feel like you need to."

"Thanks Sis. You are the best."

YiFan gave me a quick hug before heading his way back to Tiny Herb's spot. As for me, I was lost and doubt that I could find my way back without assistance. The hallways looked dark and empty. I tried my luck going down this hallway and that, and somehow ended up in the front reception area of the stadium. But I suppose that could be considered lucky too by some standard.

x

"Do you need help?" The male receptionist asked from the desk.

"I got lost."

I showed the man my special guest pass, hoping he could figure it out just from looking at it. The receptionist didn't disappointed. He quickly recognized the importance of my badge and paged security to guide me back to my seating area.

When I got back to my seat, the last match of the night was already at its end. The last match was one between the rookie from Samsara and their captain, Zhou ZeKai (周泽楷). The battle was more of a well-planned performance to show off the projection more than anything. There was nothing exciting about the final match. When I returned to my seat, no one around me asked where I went. I'm sure Lin already filled them in on the situation.

"The kid okay?" Lin asked without taking his eyes off the battle until the words GLORY eventually appeared on all the screens around the stadium.

"Yea, he is a tough cookie."

Immediately after the final match, the oversea group headed back to the hotel before any of the pro teams to avoid exiting rush. There were no plans for us to do tonight. The official announcement won't be made until tomorrow night when number of fans and viewers watching would be at its highest. I suspected to have us sitting close by Team Samsara was to get people curious and talking.

Many of the pro teams were held up at stadium for interviews and news conference. But that doesn't have too much to do with us, so we were free to leave the stadium and head back on a shuttle bus all to ourselves. When we arrived at the hotel, we said our good nights and headed back to our assigned rooms.

x

The announcement for the figure would be part of tomorrow night's program. There was nothing I can to change the image that will be presented tomorrow night. But I couldn't get my burst of motivation go to waste either. I felt inspired from watching parts of Vaccaria's battle under the new 3D projection.

In the end, I opened up my laptop, plugged in my drawing tablet, and worked on the finer details for Vaccaria. He still needed a base to stand on. Thinking back to the careful engineered battle between Wang JieXi and Gao YingJie, I couldn't get the image of that lava field, when the Lava Flask was dropped, out of my head. Flying above that burning field and watching his enemy burn under him would be something Vaccaria would do. I started to recreate that scene I remember from my memories. I wanted the base to be textured, realistic, and have bright colors that makes people think that the lava would really burn them if they touched it.

I would run the idea by and show the sketches to Lin in the morning to double check everything was in character for Vaccaria. I should just ask Wang JieXi directly, but I felt like Wang JieXi had already decided to toss away YiFan after tonight. I just couldn't bring myself to talk to the all business captain right now.

I worked on the figure and base past midnight without knowing. If it wasn't for the soft knock I heard at my door, who knew how late into the night I would have continued to draw until.

I got up from the crappy hotel desk chair I was sitting in. The moment I opened the door, YiFan tackled me into a hug and hid his face in my shoulder. I felt tears sinking into the fabric of my shirt. Poor baby. I hugged him back and rubbed his back.

"You want to talk?"

A head shook. No.

"You want to sleep over? I have the room to myself."

A nod. Yes.

"Well, let's get you cleaned up and ready for bed. You are still a growing boy. Sleeping late is going to stun your height. Then you won't able to find a cute girlfriend. What is Aunty is going to do with you then?"

"Sis!" YiFan held me at his arm's length. The expression on his face changed from sad, to mad, to embarrassed, and finally to a small smile.

"There is an extra tooth brush and towels from the hotel."

x

As YiFan was cleaning up for the night, I dug around the different cabinets and closet to find extra blankets. Of course they would put it at the highest place in the closet. It was like they purpose put the blanket up there so you can't get to it and use it.

I jumped as high as I can, attempting to catch a corner and pull it down. But no luck, I was too short and my limbs weren't long enough either. I looked around the room for something to stand on. I would really prefer not to stand on the unsteady desk chair, but it was the only thing that looked movable.

Carefully, I stepped on to the somewhat wobbly chair and reached for the blanket. So far so good. Almost there.

"Sis, that's dangerous!"

A panicked voice startled me, and I lost my balance. Hey, at least I got the blanket so it wasn't all bad. Thank goodness YiFan was there to steady me so I didn't fall off the chair and break something. But wait a minute…this was his fault for startling me from the beginning!

"I wouldn't have almost fallen if you didn't scare me." I lightly frowned.

"Sorry."

"It's fine." I ruffled his hair out of affection like normal. "You take the bed and I will sleep on the sofa."

"You sure? It is your room."

"You don't know me very well, YiFan. I can sleep like a rock anywhere." I assured YiFan that my sleeping abilities were top notch.

"But…"

"You know you are too old to be sleeping with me in the same bed." I gave YiFan a raised eyebrow.

"That's not what I meant! You are impossible sometimes Sis!" YiFan was flustered and blushing at my teasing. I laughed. At least his mind seemed to be taken off things for now.

"Sleep tight kiddo."

I made sure YiFan was all settled in. I kissed him on the forehead like a Mom would do to a young kid before bedtime before shutting off the lights and curled up on the small, rock hard sofa myself. I could feel the back spams coming already. I told YiFan I could sleep anywhere, but that was a lie. I had a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep all night.

x

A soft knock came from the door around 7 in the morning. Sure, I was already up at 7:00AM, but I still didn't want to entertain whoever was knocking at the door at this time of day. If I pretended that we are not in the room maybe they will go away. But, the knocking continued for 5 minutes until I couldn't take it anymore.

I rolled, well more like fell, out of the sofa with a thud and went to get the door. Whoever was at the door better had a good reason for knocking so damn early. They have just woken up a dragon from her slumber so they should be prepared to be missing their head very soon.

"What!" I yelled in English as I pulled the door open. Once I saw who was standing there, the intensity of glare died down drastically.

"Hm…morning, Big Sis Wang1 (王姐). Is YiFan here by chance? He didn't come back to the team's room. The team is all heading down to breakfast. He said he was coming to see you here. So I thought." YingJie explained timidly after seeing me in a terrible mood. I had allowed YingJie to call me Big Sis Wang because the kid had trouble saying Naomi and it was better than being called Aunty Wang (王阿姨).

I felt bad scaring this kiddo in front of me. He didn't deserve this rage at all.

"YiFan isn't well from last night. He is still sleeping. If it is okay with the team, we are going to have breakfast in my room when he wakes up." I whispered in a much softer voice than before.

"Oh." YingJie made a worried face and tried to take a peek into the dark room.

"He will bounce back soon enough."

"Okay, I will let the team know. The team is meeting up at 9AM in the lobby for today's events."

"I will make sure he makes it on time." I messed with YingJie's hair.

"Okay. Bye Big Sis Wang." He pouted as he tried to comb his hair with his fingers when I messed it up a second time.

"Bye." I waved and shut the door as quietly as I can.

"Was that YingJie?" YiFan woke up when YingJie was at the door.

"Yea, he came to check up on you. He was worried." I said as I opened up the curtains to let the winter sunlight flood into the room. YiFan's bedhead was too crazy. I couldn't help but smile fondly at his chicken nest for hair. "Want to call room service to bring up something to eat?"


	12. Working While on Vacation

I loved City S. City S had so many American tourists, so people that works in the service industry all knew English to some extend. Not great English of course, but enough to make my life easier. The hotels also offered Western style breakfast items. You have no idea how hard it is to find a good croissant sometimes!

Room service actually came to delivery our meal very fast. I guess most people were not using that service to save money. You know I should have probably asked them how much it was for this before I ordered it. Oh well, too late now. Not like I could ask for a refund. I tipped the server with a 100 Chinese dollar bill on his way out. He seemed satisfied with the amount. It was nice to know I didn't tip too low.

I ordered a very western breakfast: orange juice, wheat toast, croissant, and two over easy eggs. YiFan settled for a more traditional Chinese breakfast items like congee with salted duck egg and pickled vegetable. I had him add on a meat bun because I felt like he wasn't eating enough for a healthy young man his age. The kids was all skin and bone.

"Oh yea, YingJie said you guys are suppose to meet up at 9AM."

"I heard when you were talking with YingJie. I know I can't hide here forever."

x

Little past 8AM, we finished eating. Yifan cleaned up before heading out to meet up with YingJie to head to the lobby together. Without much to do, I freshened up in the bathroom, put my damp hair into high bun, and headed out to look for Lin.

It was by pure chance that I saw Lin and Sam at the elevators on the way down.

"Morning XiaoWang, I was hoping to find you before we headed out." Lin greeted me after I rushed into the elevator. I called out to have him hold the elevator for me moments before.

"Morning guys. Really? I was looking for you too. I have a few new ideas for Project Vaccaria. Hoping you would take a look for me when you have a moment. Where are you rushing out to this early in the morning?"

"We are going out to Samsara to negotiate the next figure project for you. It will be good to have you there with us!" Sam said in his normal booming voice. The way he said it didn't even give me a chance to refuse.

"It would be helpful if we can show them a more complete art concept of Project Vaccaria to get them to agree more towards our terms." Lin explained in a little more detail after looking at some of the screenshot of my ideas on my phone. "I think the lava field idea for the base is nice. But we should run this by Tiny Herb just in case."

"You know I haven't even started to actual sculpt the figure and you want me to start working on a second one. You guys are slave drivers."

Sam and Lin gave me a crash course of what's going with the new upcoming Project Cloud Piercer. Cloud Piercer was a super popular character right now. Glory gaming company wants to jump on that cash cow and announce a figure for him soon. The player Zhou ZeKai was very popular in China too. It was really hard to not have seen him when his face was all over the McD chains. It was a good thing that I only make fictional character figures or I'm sure the company would want to have a Zhou ZeKai figure made as well.

Samsara knew the opportunities in the deal too well. Thus, that's why the two side were stuck in a stalemate. Both sides were in the process of making the terms more favorable for their side and not giving up any of their demands. I was fine with whatever they company and Samsara decide, but the one thing that was on the table that I will absolutely not give up was my artistic freedom. Samsara wanted to right to dictate the pose and expression Cloud Piercer for the figure. I have seen other sculptures give in those types of demands to companies before, and the final product usually come out very bad looking. I was not going to risk having a bad product under my name. I made that very clear to Sam and Lin that if Samsara wanted me on this project, they will allow me the free to design the figure.

x

As Sam, Lin, and I walked briskly to a waiting taxi outside, we saw the Tiny Herb's team in the lobby.

"Getting defeated so easily on stage. You bring shame to the team."

"Jeez. Did you run to your sister after being crushed on stage last night? You are so useless."

"Why did you even want to enter the Rookie Challenge anyways?"

"So weak."

"What? Are you going to cry? Are you going to run to your sister for protection again? You are so childish. Grow up!"

And their captain just stood there and let everything be said and happen.

All the whispers I heard as I walked pass by the group just didn't sit well with me. Sam and Lin heard all the nasty things coming from people who were suppose to be on the same team, so they didn't stop me for stepping in.

"Hey. You guys are not picking on YiFan, are you?" I cut into their conversation with a calm voice. Yes my tone of voice was calm like before a nasty storm. I sent a nasty glare to all the members on the team's way, well expect for YingJie.

"Che, sissy's boy." Someone mutter under his voice.

Anger and hate bubbled within me. This all felt so similar to group of boys that used to bully YiFan during grade school. What did YiFan do to deserve any of this? I don't understand. Why isn't anyone on the team stepping in to stop this? I don't understand!

"Lin, please translate." I turned to Lin who nodded in my direction. All the things I wanted to say, I couldn't in Chinese.

"Lin spoke highly of you guys before, but I can see now that you guys are no better than group of bullies. Instead of help the weakest member of the team and pulling him up, you push him down and destroy his self-confidence." First, I address the team as a whole. Then, I moved on to address the great Captain, Wang JieXi directly with a biting tone, "This is a great team you have here Captain. Thank you for the hospitality at Tiny Herb. From this day forward, I will no longer be working with Tiny Herb directly; everything will be handled by Lin."

"Are you sure? After you burn this bridge, it will be hard to rebuild it again." Lin asked half way through translating.

"I don't need it." I nodded firmly by his side for him to continue.

When Lin finished translating what I wanted to say, members of Tiny Herb had expressions ranged from rage to shame. Without waiting for a response, I turned and urged Sam and Lin to leave with me. It was only after I got into the taxi that it occurred to me that I left YiFan there to deal with the aftermath of things.

Ugh, I messed up big time. I was already on the highway to Samsara's team building. The only thing I could do now was to send a text to YiFan to check on him. To my surprised YiFan responded back fairly fast, but the message made me worried.

"I'm fine. Captain want to talk to you when you get back."

Danger sensors went off in my head when I read that message. A trap! He is going to kill me! Why must I be so impulsive at times? I was dreading the talk I will eventually have to have with Big-Eyed Wang. Note to self, maybe not to call Big-Eyed Wang in his face. That would make things worse won't it.

I shoved my phone into my pockets, not bothering with it anymore. It was my turn to take my time to, or never respond, to YiFan's message.

x

The meeting at Samsara went not well, but not terrible either. Both side kept on trying to meet their own agendas while keeping a pleasant face on.

"We want a figure that's have Cloud Piercer pointing his guns out. Or, or, his most famous pose." The Samsara owner said as he demonstrated the boring poses to me. I had to bite back a yawn as the owner repeat the same poses over and over again. "Wouldn't that be cool? We know what me want already, so just hand over the design rights to us. You should be thanking us. If we give you an image to work of off, you just have to sculpt it. Less work on your side too!"

"First pose. The arms are held too straight and too close together. It is a very unnatural pose that blocks a lot details from the front, unless that is what you want. As for the second pose, sure it is something the fan would recognize but very flat and generic. When Cloud Piercer is stood along with Vaccaria upon release, which one do you think people will want to buy? The more dynamic Vaccaria or the standing still Cloud Piercer?" I pulled up the updated images I had with me on my phone to show how Vaccaria's concept image looked like right now.

This got the Samsara boss to be quite for a bit at least. Maybe he was going to start to listen to the actual artist in the room now.

"Bring in Zhou ZeKai. If he does his signature pose for you, I'm sure you will change your mind. I mean I'm not young as him anymore, so maybe that's why you can't see what I have in mind."

Ugh…and we are back to square one. We waited in an awkward silence for the Captain of the Samsara team to arrive. Each of us occasionally sipped on the tea in front of us out of courtesy. And we were all relieved when Zhou ZeKai finally opened in the door to the office after what it felt like for a really long time.

"ZeKai. Do your signature pose for them." Samsara's boss said immediately after Zhou ZeKai shut the door after entering.

The Samsara captain looked at the people around the room with uninterested eyes before falling into his pose that he was known for like a model. The pose looked a bit better with the younger and more handsome man, but the pose was still the same one the boss showed me. Why was it so hard for the old man to understand?

"I'm sure that will get all the ladies excited, but what about the males on the market?"

"Are you trying to suggest that female Glory players won't buy the product? You underestimate the fan base."

"I'm saying that you should consider a broader audience."

Back and forth, back and forth, still going nowhere.

x

"Here look!" I made a very quick sketch of the two pose. One that the Samsara's boss insisted on and another that I thought was better to show everyone in the room.

My posing idea was a side step pose that had his long jacket flying behind him. He had both of his signature guns out. He pointed one guy from his side to attack an imaginary enemy that he saw, and had the other at shoulder level, readying for a second shot.

"Now, which one is better?"

"I still think there is nothing wrong with the signature pose." Samsara's boss said stubbornly.

"Awesome!" Zhou ZeKai exclaimed randomly.

From seeing Zhou ZeKai's talk at the match last night, I knew he would be very hard to understand. Could you please explain yourself in more detail mister Samsara Captain? Did your awesome mean you like my drawings? My posing or the two your dumb boss wants? I guess I will have to approach this man-child a different way to figure out what he was thinking.

"See, ZeKai likes the company's posing idea. Let's just go with that." Samsara's boss said smugly like he. He took advantage of Zhou ZeKai's ambiguous words to make them work in his favor.

Not quite.

"Captain Zhou. Would you please go and point to the pose you like the best?" I lay out the sketches on the coffee table.

Zhou ZeKai stepped up to the tablet as he was told. His finger hovered above his signature pose. Damn, this guy was in love with himself way too much. Samsara's boss grinned wider. I wanted to go ran into a wall. But after a second, Zhou ZeKai put his finger down on the pose I recommended.

"Amazing!" He said.

The result shocked everyone in the room. No one thought he would turn traitor in front of his own boss. It was my turn to smile in victory.

"Ahahaha, so I guess design rights stay with Naomi!" Sam was the first to react out of everyone in the room.

With Zhou ZeKai's help, things moved along quicker and smoothing for our side. Samsara's boss looked like he ate something rotten and looked a bit green and pale for the rest of the meeting. Zhou ZeKai continued to make unhelpful comments until he was asked to go back to practice. But the damage was already done; the oversea department came, kicked butt, and conquered.


	13. Busted

A/N: This story is all caught up to what I have written on AO3. I will update both sites at the same time in the future.

* * *

The second All-Star night came sooner than expected. When we finally struck a deal with Samsara, it was time to leave for the events too. Sam, Lin, and I had no time to meet the rest of the team back at the hotel without being late for the event. The announcement wouldn't be made until later in the evening, but it wouldn't look good if the special guests arrived late. In the end, we took Samsara's charter bus with their team and texted our people to meet us at the stadium.

The second day's event was filled with mini games and chances for fans to interact with their idols on stage. My coworkers and I sat in the same seats as the previous day watching the events with different levels of interest. There were some hurdle racing, platform jumping, target shootings, and some other pointless games. I looked at the stage in completely boredom. I rather checking out the street foods I saw close by on the way here if I could not be here right now. I had to rush here with Samsara's team without having dinner. I was so hungry.

After the mini games, it was the Pros versus Fans portion of the night. The first battle was between a Battle Mage and a Blade Master. The battle started very normal, but in the end, the Battle Mage from the audience surprisingly won after an intense battle. But then, the two kept on fighting on stage because Samsara's player, Du Ming, wasn't satisfied with the results. He kept on challenging the female Battle Mage player again and again to prove himself.

During the fourth round, the host ran into the audience to ask for help from the Battle Mage's companions. After seven rounds, something even more astonishing happened. The girl's friend got into the player booth with her and fought Samsara's player on her behalf. From the bits of conversation that leaked out from the booth, I recognized the voice from the previous night. He was the one that YiFan called God. The stranger completely dominated the Blade Master with ease and used a move called Dragon Raising Its Head. I personally didn't understand the genius behind the move, but from the reaction all around me I could tell it wasn't a move that anyone could pull off.

Lin was screaming in excitement from seeing the move because it has been years since he had seen this moved being used. He claimed that this move belonged to One Autumn Leaf's previous owner. Due to that person's recent declines in his ability to play the game, he has not used it during tournaments for two years now.

All the thoughts in my head right now made my head spin. The voice definitely belonged to the person who helped YiFan yesterday, and he was the person I knew from in game from the first server? My friend from the first server was now a God of Glory? I was shocked stiff in my seat when I started to connect the dots.

x

The whole stadium was in chaos after this event. The host tried to get more people to go on stage to fight some of the pro players to get things under control, but nothing tonight was going to be exciting as what previous happened on stage. After a few half-hearted battles between the fan and pro players, it was finally time for the announcement that everyone had forgotten about.

"Please put your hands together for the team from Glory who made this event possible with all their contribution! Now let's welcome some of them to the stage for our special announcement for tonight!"

A bright stage light shone into our seating area, blinding all of us. The claps around the stadium were sparse and polite. The host came to ask some of us to go on stage to say a few words about the announcement. This assignment naturally fell to Lin…but also me. Huh? No one told me about this! Apparently this was a last minute decision from the Glory Company.

"Now, let's see what this talented young sculptor have prepared to show us tonight!" The host said dramatically while a drum roll played in the background. Then in every screen around the stadium showed the image of Vaccaria that I had been working on for the past week or so. "It's Vaccaria! Doesn't he look cool!?"

The whole stadium finally got over the surprising appearance of the supposed retired Glory God. This time, the applauses were louder. From the initial responses, it looks like the figure was well received. I felt overwhelming joy to know that I didn't work my butt off for the last week for nothing. Along with the announcement for Vaccaria's figure, Samsara somehow also squeezed in a promise for a Cloud Piercer figure in the near future. The unplanned announcement made the crowd go even wilder, since the majority of fans presents were naturally team Samsara's.

Lin and I stood on stage while the host talked. Why did he need us up here again? He host was doing a fine job on his own it seemed. Then the host held the microphone in our direction for us to say a few words. My mind blanked and blinked. Lin, magically detecting that my brain had short circuited, took the microphone and said a few words. He even joked around with the host on stage and the audience. I just stood there smiling pleasantly towards the camera and audience trying to not look as awkward as I felt inside. Man, who knew he was a natural talker under pressure?

x

In the end, Lin took care of things on stage and only had me wave towards everyone as he introduced me to the crowd as a Chinese-American who knew little of the Chinese language. I knew he told those little white lies to help me out on the spot, but I wonder if my parents and relatives would cry at that introduction if they were watching.

"Do you guys know to play glory?" The host suddenly asked while Lin and I were still on stage.

"I used to play back in the days. I don't nowadays but still loves to watch the tournaments." Lin replied honestly.

"Only a little." I replied while making the gesture with my hand.

"Since Mr. Lin is such a huge fan, and they are our special guests at the event. Why don't we have these two team up and challenge someone from the pro teams? I have heard that you two have been working closely with Tiny Herb's Captain, Wang JieXi for this project. How about challenging Wang JieXi and his witch, Vaccaria?"

Was this another twist that the company decided to add last minute? Whatever mask I had on my face just fell when the host suggested that. I'm sure I had a look of mixed terror and shock on my face. Are you crazy? Wang JieXi was a terrifying bastard, and I just yelled at his face this morning…so I rather not.

I looked over at Lin for him to get us out of this, but he was actually excited about this suggestion. He had been a Glory pro scene fan for a long time, so he wasn't about to let this chance slip by easily.

"Oh, it seems Miss Naomi here is strongly against that idea." The host joked, and the audience laughed.

"Desert Dust (大漠孤烟), fixed field." I blurred out quickly before Lin, who was caught up in his 5 minute of fame on stage, had a chance to agree with the host to take on Wang JieXi.

"Huh?" Both Lin and the host looked at me with slight shock. They both knew that I'm not familiar with the characters in pro scene at all. They did not expect me to know anyone else besides Vaccaria probably. The look they were both giving me was asking how I knew of Desert Dust and why Desert Dust?

"It seems that Miss Naomi challenges Desert Dust. Will Captain Han WenQing (韩文清) accept?"

A spotlight beamed down on the Captain of Tyranny. The older looking pro player looked a peeved to be called out by a random person to the stage. He glared at my direction. The harsh glare made the host felt a bit unnerved, but I just waved slightly and smiled in his direction. He probably could have declined the challenge, but it wouldn't look too good for the event. In the end, he nodded.

"Captain Han WenQing accepts. Since you have extended the challenge for fix field, do you already have a character you want to play?"

I nod in the host's direction and pulled out a first server card.

"Wow, a first server card! How about you Mr. Lin?"

"I will need to borrow an event account."

"Okay players, please step into the booths."

x

A backstage worker directed Lin and I to the player's booth. Like in an official game, Lin and I sat in separated booth so we couldn't talk about strategies while we played. I put on the noise cancelling headphones and waited for the other two log in first. I was nervous as heck. My palms were sweaty, my fingers were shaky, and my breaths were shallow. How did I end up in this position? I was beginning to question all my decisions I have made in life right now.

"Players, please log in and get ready." A male voice said from the headphones.

Doing what I was told, I inserted my account card into the game device. I stared at my character while I wondered what the reaction of the audience were when they saw my character on the 3D projection. Ah! I want to see my character on the projection! I tried to peek onto the stage, but only could catch a corner of the stage.

"Ready for battle." The voice said again once all the characters were logged in.

x

Once all of the characters pressed ready, the screen flashed and the three characters were thrown into a standard Roman Colosseum style map. This was a very open field with little places to hide. I quickly analyzed Lin's character. A swordsman with a greatsword in hand, a Berserker most likely. An Elementalist and a Berserker versus a Striker. What a terrible match up, but I had no plans to win to begin with since this was only for "fun". Hopefully the company won't give me an earful when I eventually badly lose.

The three characters all stood still after the battle started. Desert Dust and the Berserker sized each other up before they ran towards each other. I chose to stand my ground after I casted Mobile Cast on myself because I'm an Elementalist after all, a mid-range attacker. Whenever I saw an opportunity, I'd throw out a skill towards Desert Dust. Toss Frost Ball here, call up a Blizzard there, and draw an Ice Line randomly.

Most of my skills were dodged or completely missed because I didn't feel like trying too hard. No one expected anything out of Lin and I anyways, so what was the point? Desert Dust ignored me as he chose to deal with Lin's character first.

It didn't look like Lin was doing too well. Lin's character was charging blindly into battle and using his skills randomly. Maybe it was because Lin was playing so randomly, he was able to land a few rare blows on Desert Dust. After just two minutes, Lin's Berserker was already almost to red blood while Desert Dust still had three quarters of his health left.

Not to be mean or anything, I hoped Lin's character would be defeated soon so Desert Dust can kill me off soon after too. I know many people see this was an honor to fight their idols, but I really didn't care. I didn't want to try to win. I just wanted this to be done and over with so today's events can be over soon. My goal was already achieved. If the party noticed my intent, that's all that mattered.

Lin's Berserker fell soon enough and Desert Dust rushed towards my direction. I continued to half-assed tossing skills in Desert Dust's general direction without caring if they hit or not. To my surprise, Desert Dust stopped running forward and stood still.

"Fight seriously." Desert Dust said into the public chat that can be seen by everyone.

Ah, so he noticed. That's probably why he didn't even bother with me until now. I didn't bother replying because he was already charging my way again.

I casted an Ice Wall and quickly ran away from my original position. Moments after Ice Wall shot out of the ground, Desert Dust broke through it with brute force. Predicting that he would do just that, I tossed a few Frost Balls in that direction as I ran away as fast I could. I was happy that my attacks connected like I thought they would. Desert Dust's health fell a bit due to the fixed field. In normal battle, the attacks won't even scratch his armors probably.

"I'm going to start being serious if you are not." Desert Dust sent another message in the chat.

Well, and here I thought I was doing well. Just joking, I wasn't feeling like trying too hard still.

Before I knew it, Desert Dust was already in front of me and was landing an array of punches on my characters. I watched as my character's hit point fall drastically. Isn't this what I wanted? For the match to end as soon as possible, haven't I already decided that I wouldn't fight back at all. It was a bitter pill to swallow as I watched my character get beaten up by the other side with out any resistance.

x

Maybe it was an accident or out of habit, I clicked three consecutive keys that I regretted immediately.

White Robed Witched flipped her staff 180 degrees and swung it upwards like a lance. She stopped running away, and dashed forward with Dragon Tooth to meet Desert Dust face to face. She then followed it up with an ankle sweep attack, Tyrant's Destruction, to launch Desert Dust into the air. Lastly, she used Falling Flower Palm to send him flying. The damage done was not low either. Oops, I had just exposed my White Robed Witch in front of millions of people that she wasn't an ordinary character.

Dragon Tooth and Falling Flower Palm was attacks under level 20, so all mage class characters have the ability to learn it(1). Most Elementalist character do not bother putting any skill points into those attacks because Elementalist characters have low physical attack power and slow physical attack speed. The damage output would be pretty sad.

Regardless of the recommended skill guide said online, I gave up putting points into Electric Ring and all the other lower level Elementalist skills to learn Dragon Tooth and Falling Flower Palm in case when I need to break out of a tough close combat situation. Tyrant's Destruction was a higher level physical attack that shouldn't be able to learned by any other mage sub-class, but somehow the White Robed Witch used the impossible attack in front of everyone. Well, there was a very good reason for that too, and it's not because of hacking.

x

I sat frozen in front of the screen in cold sweat. Oh crap. Desert Dust was unfazed though. He rushed in and finished the rest of my hit points under a minute. I pulled my account card out of the machine and logged out once the battle was over. I thought of sneaking away like the previous person of the night. But I knew that was bad for company image and I'm sure the audience was already upset with my character and I. What a mess!

I sat in the chair with my face buried in my hands until someone from backstage came to get me. "Hey, they want you up stage." A backstage employee said.

"Um. Hey. Hey." I didn't respond for a long time, so the employee then tapped me on the shoulder to check I was still alive.

I inhaled deeply. I have to suck it up and face the music. I finally stood up and followed the employee back to the stage area. As I walked to the stage where Lin and Han WenQing stood, I could feel everyone's glare on me. The audience were divided between booing and chanting "Hacker (黑客)." Repeatedly. The pro players were all discussing among themselves about what had just happened. The screens were replaying the scene of White Robed Witch using the Battle Mage moves: Dragon Tooth, Tyrant's Destruction, and Falling Flower Palm.

"That was…" The host was unsure how to continue with the program once I was on stage between Lin and Han WenQing. This year's program had too many unexpected events.

"She is not a hacker. Her character is legit." Han WenQing grabbed the microphone from the host and tossed it back just as quick.

"Ah?" The whole stadium exclaimed in surprised.

Why would the gruffest captain in the history of Glory Pro Alliance defend an unknown female hacker? What was this they are seeing? Was this frowning captain amused for once?

Han WenQing tossed a quick 'see you later' in my direction and walked off the stage.

"Hm…this is just in. The Glory Company says that they will examine this case and give everyone an explanation in tomorrow night's program." The host repeated what he was told through his earpiece.

Lin and I walked back to our area in silence. Instead of sitting down, I continue to walk.

"Where are you going?" Sam caught me before I walked out of the area.

"Back to the hotel. I'm not feeling well."

Everyone else watched me walk out of the sight in silence.

x

I didn't take the shuttle back to the hotel. I felt like walking in the freezing cold weather. I wanted to be cold and numb as I felt inside. I wondered what would happen to White Robed Witch and me now. I just wanted to test if Desert Dust would recognize my character from 7 years ago. I didn't think this all the way through. I kicked up snow angrily as I walked.

Step by step, I somehow made it back to the hotel an hour later on foot. When I stepped into the hotel lobby, I was frozen to the bones. I didn't expect the walk to be that long. I shivered and sneezed loudly once I was finally surrounded by warm air. I had stayed outside for too long. I hoped that I wasn't going to get sick later. Going back to my room and standing under a hot shower to warm up sounded amazing right now.

Of course fate would have that when I arrived at my hotel room, I had a bunch of people waiting for me. In the hour that took me to walk back, everyone else seemed to already gotten back a while ago by shuttle. There goes my idea for a hot shower and rest right now.

Lin, Wang JieXi, YiFan, YingJie, Han WenQing, and a few people that I don't recognize stood on both sides of the hallway, watching my every move. Is that a KFC bag I saw hanging around Han WenQing's wrist?

"Hey. You okay XiaoWang? What happened tonight?" Lin was the first one to greet me. I was glad that he spoke to me in English so the other couldn't understand. I must have ruined his night pretty bad. I mean he was in the hallway with a few pro players and he didn't seem star struck at all.

"Yea. Sorry for tonight." I apologized to Lin.

I walked to the door with my head down. I didn't want to make eye contact with anyone. I pulled out my card key and opened the door in an awkward silence. I finally turned around to look at everyone when passed through the door frame.

"Lin, in." I said and pointed to my coworker and then my room.

"YiFan and YingJie, in. Captain Han, in." I named the few people I was willing to talk to in this moment. As for, Han WenQing brought me KFC so of course I had to let him in.

"Captain Wang. I really don't want to talk to you right now." I said straightforwardly, there was a flash of an unknown emotion behind Wang JieXie's eyes when I said that. "And I don't know the rest of you. Please leave. You are blocking the hallway. It's a fire hazard."

"Wait, wait, wait! I'm Huang ShaoTian (黄少天), and this is my captain. We are from Blue Rain. We want to check out-" A blond haired young man rushed towards me.

I didn't give the big mouth a chance to finish before shutting the door in his face. I didn't bother ask who the other people were because at this point I don't care.

"Why did she let that stone faced Han WenQing in and not us? That bitch!" Huang ShaoTian yelled from the other side of the door.

x

Everyone in the room stood around like awkward turtles and waited for someone to say something.

"I know what most of you want to know. It will be explained. My computer isn't set up to run Glory. YingJie, do you have your gaming laptop. Can you bring it up?"

With a nod, YingJie scurried out of the room to get the item in his room. I felt bad for sending the kid back into the jungle out there, but it had to be done.

"So why are you here? Thought we already said our hellos in game. For the record I blame you for how things ended Old Man (老头). I was trying to hide White Robed Witch's hidden skills."

Everyone in the room was shocked and scared for me at how causally I addressed Han WenQing, who was infamous for his bad attitude in the Alliance. But to their surprised, the usual grumpy captain seemed to be in a good mood despite being address so informally and called an old man. To clear things up, Old Man was how I always addressed Desert Dust in game ages ago. Back when I was playing as a teen, this man had already been in his twenties. To me that was old, so the nickname stuck.

"Thought you could use dinner, Brat (小鬼)." Captain Han also replied causally as he placed the plastic bag on the coffee table.

"Why KFC out of all things?" I asked while I dug through the content of the bag to see what he brought me. Their well-known fried chicken sandwich2 and sides, yum!

"Didn't you complain about how KFC was not as good in the states back then?"

"You have pretty good memory for an Old Man."

"You just have poor memory, Brat. And your stomach was growling while on stage."

"Che." I flushed red after I couldn't find a good comeback. I hoped that the sound of my stomach growling wasn't also broadcasted to millions of people on top of everything else that happened tonight.

Everyone else was still speechless at the conversation between the two very different people who have never met each other in person before.

* * *

1\. Mage class can learn other mage subclass skills level 20 and below is cannon. Seen in chapters 710, 1408, etc.

2\. Fast food menus in China and other Asian countries are different/more diverse than in the States. For example two very simple and well known sandwiches (similar to the Zinger sandwich in the U.S. but comes in a spicy and non-spicy variety) are not available in the States.

Have a great New Years everyone! Thank you all for all the views, favs, follows, and reviews!

See you in 2018!


	14. Simple Explainations

A/N:I meant to post this chapter a bit earlier, but life and work have being very draining. Sorry to keep all of you waiting!

A new year, a new start. Happy 2018! Hope everyone will continue to enjoy my writing. I appreciate everyone who took the time to read and leave reviews in the past chapters!

* * *

When YingJie came back with his laptop and knocked on the door, the people who were still outside saw that as an opportunity to try to invite themselves in my room again. I quickly rushed the poor kid into the room and blocked out all the rest of the intruders by putting my full my body weight on the door.

"Naomi, Naomi, let my captain Yu WenZhou (喻文州) and I in." Huang ShaoTian begged again while trying to force his way into the room. He pushed on the door with his own weight on the other side, trying to get the door open wider.

"I don't know you. I'm sure it's against some fire code to have so many people in my room. And I'm sure you called me a bitch before. So no." I pushed back with all my might to shut the annoying guy that talks at the speed of light out.

"Shit. Shit. Shit. You heard that? Shit you weren't supposed to hear that." Huang ShaoTian cursed under his breath.

"I apologized for ShaoTian's behavior. We are only genuine curious about your White Robed Witch and her abilities." Yu WenZhou explained politely from the side.

Taking a closer look at both men from the crack of the door, they didn't look like bad men. The blond haired younger man looked like an impatient kid when compared to the more composed male in the same blue team jacket next to him. Even if they came with good intentions doesn't mean I have to like them and let them in.

"You can come in. He has to stay outside." In the end, I decided to let the Captain of Blue Rain in just to mess with the less mature team member.

"Why? Why? Why? Why?" Huang ShaoTian asked continuously in disbelief.

"Because I said so. You are annoying. I don't like you."

"Captain!" Huang ShaoTian quickly turned to his captain and pouted like kid who was told he couldn't buy any candy in the candy store.

"I can't help you. You got yourself into this situation. Go back to your room and wait for now." Yu WenZhou ordered.

x

I smirked victoriously, which made Huang ShaoTian frown even more. If his captain said so, he had to obey. I watched him walk away like a kicked puppy with a satisfied smile on my face. Not letting me get the last laugh, Huang ShaoTian turned suddenly and stuck out his tongue out at me like a child before running away.

"Why are you still here." I turned to question the Tiny Herb Captain leaning against the wall by the doorframe. I noticed Wang JieXi still standing there when I opened the door for the Blue Rain's captain.

"Is there a reason why I can't be here? This is a public space."

"You already have two little spies in there. Can't you just wait for their report after?"

"It will be easier to prove your innocence if you have more experts in the room." He stared at me plainly like it was the most logical thing in the world.

Dammit, I knew this was just his excuse to try to get in, but he was still hard to deal with. This guy uses bulletproof logics… then I just have to fight logic with complete nonsense!

"You know. It doesn't look good for me to have so many guys inviting themselves into my room. Someone is going to get suspicious of what I, a single innocent female, am doing with a group of young healthy men. You know what I'm talking about Captain Wang JieXi?"

The males inside of my room had all heard of my comment and had all started to choke on air awkwardly.

"I guess I will have to there to make sure the underage children are not involved with whatever inappropriate things you have planned." Why was he good at playing along with nonsense too!

x

In a brief moment when my defenses were down, Wang JieXi pushed past me like it was the most natural thing in the world. He greeted the two captains and settled in with the group around the coffee table where YingJie was setting up the laptop.

YingJie and YiFan were seated in front of the laptop waiting for Glory to load. Wang JieXi, Yu WenZhou, and Lin all stood behind the youngster. Han WenQing just sat down in the office chair away from the crowd since he already knew the truth from years ago.

"Why can't all of you just wait until the official announcement from Glory tomorrow? They will clear everything up. Old Han, help me get some of them out of my room." Han WenQing was my last hope to remedy this situation.

"It is good to have more eyes for witnesses."

"Traitor." I glared childishly at WenQing's direction, but he just brush it off.

I knew no matter how much I complain I wouldn't be able to get these people out of my room until they find what they were looking for. I squeezed my way in between YingJie and YiFan so I can log in and show them exactly what makes White Robed Witch special.

"Help yourselves." I logged into the game with offline status. The pale and beautiful female character with icy blue eyes, white hair, and white equipment with grey accents stared out at everyone. She looked like an untainted snowflake. I immediately opened up my character equipment window, stats window, and skills windows for everyone to see so there would be no questions later.

When everyone leaned forward to get a good look at my character, I felt a bit claustrophobic. I quickly squeezed my way out of the crowd.

x

"Achoo!" I sneezed loudly. I sat cross-legged on the bed and waited for the people to finish analyze my account and get out of my room so can do other things like washing up, warming up, and going to bed. A warm bed sounded really good right now. I shivered visibility when I felt an extreme chill running down my spine; my body was reminding me how cold I was still after my long evening walk.

"You should warm up. You must be cold." Old Man Han relocated from his chair to next to me on the bed. He brought over a blanket that was draped over the back of the chair and tossed it over me. He glared at me for being stupid enough to walk in the chilly night weather.

"I'm okay. I'm not feeling that cold actually." I lied and flashed a grateful smile in Han WenQing's way.

I bundled myself up in the fuzzy warm blanket. I listened to the conversation the people around the laptop were having. The warmth from the body heat in the room and blanket made me feel super sleepy. Before long all the voices and words started to blend together, my head felt hot and turned into mush. It was hard to think. It was probably the stress hitting me right now.

"Old Man Han, make sure no one steals my account. I'm sleepy. Going to bed." I blurred out before feeling all strength leaving my body and tipping over on the bed in my blanket cocoon. Everything was feeling so warm, fuzzy, and comfortable right now. Sleep was lurking me into the dark side; I heard they had cookies there.

"Brat? Hey! Don't fall asleep!" I remember Han WenQing yelling loudly before my memory cuts off for the night.

x

Why was it so heavy and hot? Who piled so many blankets on me? I woke up to being crushed under a massive pile of blankets. I groaned as I pushed off the heavy weights off my body. While doing so, I pushed something big and heavy off the bed too.

"AH!" Someone screamed when they had hit the floor with a thud.

It seemed like the thing I pushed off with the blankets was a person, YiFan, my cousin, to be exact.

"You are awake!" YiFan looked super happy for someone who just got pushed off from the bed. Why was this kid in the same bed with me anyways last night? Did he have a nightmare last night? But he was almost a full-grown adult now; he was getting too old for this.

This was when I saw other bodies around the room start to stir from their sleep. Old Han slept on the couch with his long legs dangling off. Yu WenZhou slept in a sitting position in the chair with his head tilted one way; he was going to have a heck of knot in his neck today. Lin, YingJie, and Wang JieXi seemed to have left after last night's event.

Speaking of last night, my account card! Where is my account card? The thought finally occurred to me. I frantically scanned the room and saw a familiar card right by the nightstand. I was 99.99% sure this was my card. I could tell by just looking at all the scratches I had put on it over the years, but I had to double check on a computer later just to make sure.

"Why did you guys try to bury me alive under blankets?" I scold everyone one in the room once they were all awake to some levels. I tried to shoot daggers out from my eyes.

"Be grateful that we didn't call an ambulance, Brat." Han WenQing, completely ignored my glaring, stretched out cramped muscles from sleeping on the most uncomfortable sofa in the world.

"Huh?" Sure it was probably still early in the morning, but that wasn't the reason why I wasn't following the conversation.

"You had a mild case of hypothermia last night. You kept on repeating 'no hospital' when you were confused and half conscious. Warming you with all the blankets and body heat was the only thing we could think to do. YiFan is your family, so he was the most appropriate person to help you warm up." Yu WenZhou explained patiently while moved his stiff neck all around.

I don't remember saying that, or anything from last night.

"I stayed because you wanted to make sure no one took your account card." Han WenQing smoothed out the creases in his team jacket and sweatpants, getting ready to head out.

Okay, I vaguely remember saying that.

"Let's go down stairs for breakfast. Everyone was worried about you last night." YiFan smiled cutely.

Hm. I guess he had a point. Go to make sure everyone knows that I'm still alive and kicking. But when I tried to get out of bed, my body just didn't agree with me. I felt feverish, unbalance, and had no appetite. As if for an extra effect, I sneezed and snot came dripping out of my nose. With no tissue in sight, I stumbled quickly into the bathroom to blow my nose.

x

Ah!

I was startled when I looked into the mirror. I looked like a mess right now. I didn't remove the eye makeup before passing out last night. The black eyeliner and mascara had smudged all over my eyes giving me panda eyes. I looked like one of those girls from chick flicks that cried while wearing non-waterproof eyeliner and mascara. In addition to that, my hair that was in a ponytail was a huge bird's nest, and my face looked feverishly flushed. And everyone in the room saw I looked when I got up. Why do life hate me so much!

Cleaning up myself as best as I could at the sink, I decided I was sick. Not being very hungry, despite not having eaten anything since lunch yesterday, should have been the first sign since I am usually quite the big eater. Old Han kindly brought me KFC dinner but I never got a chance to eat it before passing out. But I shall not let it go to waste. I would have it later in the day after another nap. Even though I just woke up less than 30 minutes ago, sleep was coaxing me to get back into bed.

When I got out of the bathroom, only YiFan was still in the room.

"They all went back to their teams. They said they would see you at breakfast or at the event. Captain Han left a note for you before leaving. I put it with your account card."

"Event…" I sighed heavily, not wanting to think about tonight. I'm sure it would all be fine. Glory Co. would announce White Robed Witch was a legit character. Maybe show some of her gear stats that made her so game breaking. All the pro-players here last night could back that claim up. Do I have to be there? I don't really want to be there.

x

The equipment set on White Robed Witch was indeed silver, but they had unique boarder on each of the equipment inventory and status page to indicate that these were special event items. A lock icon on the each of the equipment indicated that these items were locked to the character. This mean the set was non-tradable, non-transferable, and would not drop if she dies in game.

In addition to all the average to above average added stats and magic attack power level 50 gears should have, she had a full set bonus that added the amount of INT into her ATK and vice versa; this allowed her physical attack to be high as her magic attack. In addition, five main pieces of the set – top, bottom, shoes, hat, and weapon – had an empty skill slot.

The skill slots granted my character the ability to learn any skills in the Battle Mage class, including those above level 20. However, once the skill was locked into the slot, it could not be changed again, unless there was an update that increased the level cap and introduced new skills. Only then would there be an option to reset the skills and skills points on those slots.

She still had the same max amount of skill points in her disposal as the regular characters. So in a way it was both an advantage and disadvantage for her to have additional battle mage skills to choose from. So far, I had only filled one of the skill slots with a level 1 Tyrant's Destruction because I did not know which kills to put in those slots and how to distribute the skill points. Yea I didn't know what I was doing even though I design the gears to have free skill slots that made most people go green with envy. I had hoped to get in touch with one of my Glory expert friends for advice on that, but I never got around to it before quitting.

If those weapon stats and special effects weren't broken enough, the set of equipment stat and attack power will increase by a random algorithm with the character whenever she hits one of the level caps from the past updates. This was due to Glory had increase the level cap over the years. I had received the set when Glory was only 1 year old and before all the updates. To make my set viable for playing in the new updates, Glory Co. took it upon themselves to update the special set equipment too with each level increase. I wasn't sure if the graphics of for the set would change when the level increases when I leveled up; only way to find out was to level up and see.

x

"Ugh. I'm not feeling well. You go ahead with your team's activities. Think I'm going to nap." I said weakly to YiFan as I burrowed under the pile of blankets.

I felt hot and cold at the same time. Yup, definitely confirming I was sick. Saying a quick 'don't worry' and 'bye' to YiFan, I tossed the blanket over my head to block out the sunlight peeking through the curtains and fell asleep again.

* * *

A/N: Special thank you to Rosy Fire for reviewing every chapter I had up. As to your comment back in ch 6. No romance between Wang JieXi and Naomi suggested. He is just being super suspicious of her presence in Tiny Herb and want to keep an eye on her so she won't leak team data. No pairings in mind at the current time between Naomi and characters, might change as the fanfic goes on. :)


	15. What's my Fate

"…wake up. Naomi wake up. We have to go soon." Someone shook me lightly.

Ngh… I groaned in response. Don't want to. Can't. Too tired. I attempted to slap their hands away, unsure how that worked out or if my hand even moved at all. Maybe I only imagine the action in my head.

"She is in bad shape. She is running a fever." A cold hand landed itself on my forehead. Hm, that feels nice.

"She should rest tonight."

"What should we do? Someone should be here with her just in case."

"I stay. All you go."

…then the voices left the room and there was only peace again.

x

When my body finally decided it was a good time to wake up, the sky outside was already dark…I think. With all the lights pollution in City S, it was really hard to tell. I wondered how late it was. I sat up slowly because I still felt weak and achy all over, but I did feel more energized after sleeping in all day. When I turned to get up from the bed, I jumped at the quiet and unexpected person at in the corner of my dark room.

"Ah!" I screamed.

"Ah!" The person dropped her book and screamed too.

In the corner of the room, reading under a dim light sat Kazumi.

"Why are you here?" I yelled without meaning to, but she really almost gave me a heart attack.

"You are sick."

"That still doesn't explain why you are here."

"I stayed to look after you, and I didn't feel like going to the event tonight."

"Wait a minute." I narrowed my eyes at the Japanese woman, something felt weird. Then I had a realization! In the last few seconds, I had heard more words come out of this small Japanese woman than the last month! "You speak English!"

"And Chinese, and other languages. When you are alive for a while, you pick up a few of them." She adds with a smirk.

"You can't be that old, you look 25." I rolled my eyes. Every woman over 21 claimed they were old. Somehow 21 was the age that every woman wanted to be. Isn't that the reason why the clothing chain was called Forever 21? (1) Who came up with that arbitrary magical number? No idea.

Kazumi opened her mouth and laughed. What was going on tonight? This was not the quiet, stern, and cold woman everyone knew at work. She was actually sociable?

"Oh you just made my day. I'm closer to 40 now. I just don't like talking around Sam. I find him crude, loud, and annoying."

I gaped at Kazumi. I'm half convinced that she had vampire genes in her. I meant it when I said she didn't look a day over 25. I was also one hundred percent convinced that this woman was a troll. She was committed to being a mute for a childish reason of not liking her new co-workers.

"Here." She got up brought over a small plastic bag of stuff. "Cold medicine."

"Oh, thanks."

I opened one of the bottles and the room was immediately filled with a mix of mint and medicine smell. My stomach gurgled like it was telling me not to drink this. I pinched my nose with one hand and chugged the medicine down the hatch. There was a burning sensation as the medication went down. I shivered from the bitter aftertaste of the medication.

Almost immediately after drinking the medication, my stomach revolted. I ran to the toilet and threw up whatever I had in my empty stomach. I haven't eaten for more than 24 hours now, so the only things in there were the medication and bile. I quickly flushed the toilet to get rid of the stomach acid and medicine smell in the bathroom.

"You should probably take that after some food. It's some pretty strong stuff. Hard on the stomach." Kazumi stood causally at the door looking in.

I glared at her the best I could at the moment. She could have told me that before I drank it! But she was on to something, dinner sounded really good right now. My stomach growled in agreement.

"What time is it?" I realized something felt wrong, like we should both be somewhere else right now.

"9:10PM."

"We should be at the stadium!"

"It's fine. We are already excused, might as enjoy ourselves. Let's go get dinner."

x

In the end, we just went down stairs to the restaurant inside of the hotel. I wasn't in well enough condition to be out in the cold and couldn't be on my feet for too long. Over the course of dinner, I found this unleashed Kazumi was a master troll, hardheaded about things, but still cared about others in her own way. At dinner, she could have ordered anything she wanted from the menu for herself, but she chose to eat congee with me. She wouldn't admit it but she didn't want me feel bad about not able to eat everything else on the menu that was too salty or greasy. "Bad for my current state of stomach." She said.

She didn't have to stay with me tonight, but she did. She didn't have to get me cold medicine, but she bought them. I could have eaten the KFC in the fridge, but she insisted we get fresh stuff. It was a refreshing to get to know Kazumi better. Alcohol was an interesting thing. It makes someone like me goofy and sleepy, but it helped the usually clamped up Kazumi open up way more, given that she was not around people she doesn't like. Sorry Sam, she just really didn't like you it seems. We talked about and bonded over our failed relationships and past emotional scars.

I found out that Kazumi was once married but now a divorced single woman. She got married out of family pressure and was in an unhappy marriage. She wanted to be a working woman, but her ex-husband wanted her to just be a traditional stay at home housewife. Their two views clashed every single day. He wanted kids; she didn't. He liked modern style; she liked traditional Japanese style. He would often verbally abuse her and sometimes even physically abuse her when he comes home drunk from after work social drinking events. Eventually, she got smart and finally made the decision to file for divorce. For ten years, Kazumi suffered through an unhappy and abusive marriage, her best years wasted on an undeserving bastard.

After being on her own again, she devoted herself back into what she was good at – her work. Her work project became her children that she obsessed over. She was now a very successful independent woman who was happy with how things are. Aiko and Jin were her handpicked interns, but also like her work children. With them around, she felt the joy of raising children but didn't have to deal with changing diapers and other hassle work. She taught them how to work with the digital media from scratch in the main Japanese company. She was proud to see how much they improve and develop their own ideas every single day. Although, she would never admit how proud she was of them in person. Even in her drunken state, she threatened to me to never repeat a word of what she said to Aiko and Jin.

I liked Kazumi even more after I told her of my sob story from only two month ago. Instead of telling me that I didn't have a good grip on my man like some people around me had said me after the event, she told me, "Well, I say good riddance. Be glad that you dodged a bullet my friend. Breaking up after getting marriage is way harder. All the legal stuff. Trust me my friend, I know."

After dinner, I drank another bottle of the herbal medication. It was still nasty as liquids collected in the bottom of trashcans, but at least this time I didn't throw up. I definitely feel my inside warming up and pushing out the chills from my bones. Kazumi informed me that our flight was at another ungodly hour in the morning before leaving me for the night. She said she was going back to her room to read, but I wonder what else she was trolling us about. Had she read a word of the book she brought with her? She seemed to be always on the same page when I look over.

x

Sunday night came and went. I slept until I couldn't sleep anymore. I woke up at 4 in the morning and couldn't fall back asleep due to hunger pain. A bowl of congee for dinner was just not enough food to last me the whole night. Too early to go anywhere for a warm breakfast at this time in the morning, I ate the KFC sandwich and sides in the fridge cold. I would have warmed it up but there was no microwave in the room, I checked.

Overall, I felt much better thanks to the medication I took last night before sleeping. I wouldn't say I was back to 100% yet. I definitely still felt warm with a low fever and a runny nose, but I should get over this cold very soon.

Waking up this early wasn't a bad thing. I still had to pack up everything back into my carry-on bag since I wasn't able to do so last night. I packed my life over the weekend fairly easily since I didn't bring much with me to begin with me. Then, I opened up the curtains and sat in the chair and admired the view. This was the first time I really looked out the window this weekend.

At a time that everyone was asleep in the city, the city was still bright with lights. The streets lights shone brightly for the few cars that were on the streets and highways. Many of the lights in empty office building were left on for the night. The brightest building in the area was the empty Samsara stadium in the distance. I sat and watched the street lights grew dimmer, the sky brightened, and the cars multiplied on the highway. Then, my phone alarm went off. It was time to head downstairs for a quick bite and checkout.

x

"Morning."

Various people greeted me when I arrived at the dining hall. Surprisingly, I was the last to arrive even though I was on time. The dinning hall was quite full for 5:30AM. A large number of teams where already there eating and chatting lively. If I wasn't over thinking, a number of people from different teams seemed to glance my way during the whole time I was in the dining hall, minding my own business.

"What's going on?" I asked the rest of overseas group when I felt like the stares were not going away.

"Have you checked Baidu? You and the White Robed Witch have become the number one search term online after the official Glory announcement last night." Lin said excitedly. "You are Internet famous now. The higher ups wants to talk to you about it when you get back too."

Curious, I pulled out my phone and searched for the White Robed Witch. The first link online was an article from a reputable e-sport news site with a video of last night's announcement attached. I had to read the article and watch the video without sound to figure out the jest of what happened. I didn't want to watch the video with sound because the new generation of Iphones didn't have the headphone ports anymore – wtf apple - and I didn't own their Bluetooth headphones or headphone attachment.

From watching the video, it seemed like Glory Co. had really out done themselves. They had put together a polished presentation last minute. It was a collage of recordings from years back, Saturday night, and some details on the designer event and my submission. In the article, it said Glory Co. didn't reveal any of the stats of the set and only explained to the audience that the set had five empty skill slots available. One of slots was Tyrant's Destruction, but it was unknown as to what other four skills.

Glory Co. understood the over-powerness of set and has banned the White Robed Witch from the pro-scene. All-Star Weekend was a fan event and not considered a competition so the character had slipped through into the event. They would correct this for the future. It also ended with Glory Co. stating they were not aware that one of their employees was the owner of this account, but would reprimand the employee for making the disruption to the event.

After finishing reading the article and some of the comments, I let out a sound that was a mixed of laugher and a cry. Like the article said, the All-Star Weekend was not an official competition, so it wasn't against anything I had signed in the past for not compete professionally. And what of this reprimand talk? Glory Co. was my current employer, so termination might be on the table, and that makes me nervous.

Truth to be told, I didn't expect this situation to be blown up so much. There was already over a thousand comments on this article alone. From the top comments, it seemed like I already have fans and haters. Some people said such an OP character should just be deleted. Some people said they would like to see more White Robed Which appearances in the future in the pro-scene despite the agreement that was signed. Some fans even went as far as posting wanting their favorite pro-teams to recruit me. Others complained that it was such a waste that such a priceless account was in the hands of a complete amateur and was not even fully leveled.

"Are you okay?" Sam asked in all seriousness.

"I'm nervous about this meeting with the higher ups. You guys know what it is going to be about?"

Everyone at the table shook their head.

"Whatever it is, they will have to keep you until at least Project Vaccaria is finished. It wouldn't be good to change designs and sculptor right after the announcement." Lin assured me with a hopeful smile.

"I suppose." I sighed resigned. There was not much I could do now. I would find out my fate tomorrow when I go to work.

* * *

(1) Disclaimer: not a fact. I have no idea why the chain is called F21. This is just what Naomi's train of thought, not a fact.

N/A: Thank you for reading, and the biggest thank you to those who took the time to leave reviews. I enjoy reading people thoughts on my stories. They help me develop new ideas and sometimes help me catch my own mistakes in the plot that I missed during editing. So thank you, thank you, thank you!

To Rosy Fire: Thank you again for reviewing. I think at the current point of the story, it is still too soon for her to have a love interest or be interested in a relationship. Naomi had only broken up with her ex for about 1-2ish month. Love could be a possibility in the future though! Not sure who she will end up at this point, if anyone at all. I'm not great at writing lovey dovey situation/stories but that doesn't mean things won't happen. Keep on reading and find out as the stories goes on. :)


	16. Nothing Makes Sense

"What were you thinking using that account in front of every Glory fan?! Do you realize how much trouble you have caused for the company by pulling a prank like that?!" Lin translated for me as I stood in front of the CEO of the company like a frightened mouse caught by a lion.

I have been standing in the same place of the office for the last 30 minutes being lectured by the big boss. I'm not sure if the CEO was beyond angry or getting old, but he seemed to be repeating the same things over and over again. I actually stopped listening about 20 minutes ago. I just put on my best 'I'm sorry face' until he would stop talking yelling. I was just glad he hasn't start throwing things at me yet.

"Do you realize how many views and how much money we could had made by add the White Robed Witch as a guest to the program? I'm getting a headache from thinking of the missed profit over the weekend." Lin ended the translation with a giant question mark.

"Eh?" I raised my head and looked at the CEO and then Lin asking if he had translated correctly. Lin was looking at the CEO like if he heard wrong and started talking at a fast pace in Chinese with the CEO to confirm.

"The appearance of the White Robed Witch have increased the views and discussion for the All-Star Weekend across the board. This year easily had the highest number live and re-streamed views by a landslide. She is the number one searched term in Baidu. All the teams have put in requests with good money for her to just show up at their competitions. The majority of fans want to see more of her, so that's what we will do in the future. We will prepare a special announcement to include her in more programs for next season."

"What's happening right now?" I asked and was completely ignored. Did he just make the White Robed Witch into Glory advertisement material on the spot.

"We will make sure you and the White Robed Witch make at least one appearance with each of the team next season so every team in the Alliance will be happy. The Alliance will have to work out the finer details, but we are only mid-season and have a while to figure it out before next season."

"Wait, hold up." I was ignored again.

"Of course you have no room to argue with the company decision right now after the trouble you have caused. Either we let you go after you finish Project Vaccaria, or you take what we offer to you on the table right now. The Alliance, the teams, and the company will pay you good money to make those appearances. We will cover the hotel cost, plane ticket, and transportation to the events on top of each appearance pay. This is how much you should expect to get paid at least this much for each of the appearances you make. It is quite lower than a pro-player, but you are not a pro-player so it a fair price for your time."

The CEO wrote down a number in front of him and mentioned for me to come close to take a look. I almost coughed up blood when I saw the number, 25 thousand RMB (3850 USD). One appearance payment was more than one of my bi-weekly paycheck. Heck it was just about the same as my monthly wage. If they are paying me only this much to make one appearance, I wondered how much top tier pro players get paid then.

"In the mean time, we will hire someone to power level the White Robed Witch to level 70. We expect her to fight in some guest matches with other famed Glory characters at events. We don't expect her to win any matches of course, just put up a good fight. We will talk to Tiny Herb to set something up to see if they can teach you some techniques so you won't lose too badly on stage."

Like the CEO said, I don't have room to refuse the terms, but there was one thing that was absolutely non-negotiable on my side.

"She is going be used for Glory Co. advertisement purposes. I am not against that. But can we clear up who actually owns the account? Just to let you know, I am not selling. I will not hand over my account card to anyone for power leveling either. What if that someone takes this account and sell it, what is the company going to do about it then?"

The CEO seemed to think about that seriously for a bit. I did bring up a very valid point. It was a good idea to be clear from the beginning about everything so there would be no ambiguity later on. A written contract drawn up by the company lawyer would be a good idea.

As for power leveling, the company would indeed need to hire a third party. With how popular and unique the account was, no matter how much the company paid that third party, the account card would fetch more online. There was no guarantee the third party wouldn't just take the account and run with it. Even if they can replace the account data for Naomi to the last server backup, the emotional value would be completely lost.

"Very well. I will have the company lawyer sit down with you with a contract in couple days. Starting today, making sure the White Robed Witch is leveled to 70 by end of the season will part of your job too. In addition, the company will make a Weibo for you that you will maintain. Post things like figure updates or White Robed Witch's online status to keep the hype going. Your hands will be full from now on. Good Luck." With that, the CEO kicked Lin and I out of his office.

x

After I walked out of the office with Lin, both of us looked dazed. Everything happened so fast that our brains couldn't completely comprehend what had just happened.

"Ahahah! XiaoWang, you lucky girl!" Lin was the first to snap out of it when the elevator door closed behind us. He slapped me on the back hard, making me choke on air and stumble forward a bit; he had just pulled a Sam.

"I'm not fired!" I yelled happily.

"Guess you will be pretty busy with everything now. How do you plan to level up to level 70?"

"I have people in mind to help." I said vaguely.

"Oh? Would it be from any of the Gods in the hotel room from the All-Star night?" Lin's interest peaked immediately.

"No." Honestly I wasn't thinking about them at all. Okay, I was thinking maybe asking Old Man to help me out. He had left me with his QQ number just in case I needed to get in touch with him, but I knew the chances of getting him to do something as plain help me train was extremely low. I'm sure he was busy with his own team stuff.

"Oh. Well when you ever meet any of them again, can you get me signatures or something? I forgot to ask them that night because I was so nervous standing among them."

"Haha. Aren't you planning to come with me to these events? I still need a good translator. I mean my Chinese is sooooo sucky." I poked fun at Lin's white lies that he made during the All-Star Weekend, but I didn't mind as being seen as a foreigner who can't speak Chinese. It probably could actually help me get out of a lot of situation in the future.

"I wish! I will have to check with the wife and kids. I might be able to make some but you will most likely have to bring in YueHua once in a while." Lin sighed.

Looked like Lin's wife has him whipped. I smiled amused. I will have to meet the misses sometimes.

x

I called up YiFan that night and had a long chat over the phone. I probably could have QQed him, but typing Chinese was not a strong suit of mine. I let him know what had happened in the meeting and the decisions that were made. He was quite worried for me when the eSport news came out.

"How are things on your side?" I asked after I spilled my guts to him.

"Okay. About the same as before." Was the only response from YiFan.

I knew he would be okay until end of the season at least. Even if Tiny Herb has decided to let him go after the weekend's event, they can't officially do anything until end of June.

"I need help leveling up and need to get in touch with a guy. I think you might know him."

"Hm, who?" YiFan asked curiously.

"You know him as Ye Qiu."

"Huh? Eh? How do you know him, Sis?" YiFan was very surprised that I knew God Ye Qiu.

"He was an old friend back on the 1st server, if I'm thinking of the right person. Do you have his QQ or contact information?"

I did not have a QQ until a few days before All-Star Weekend to keep in touch with YiFan. The kid was terrible with replying to text messages because he kept on forgetting to carry his phone. But good thing he was in front of a PC most of the day and have QQ on most of the time in the evening. I made one just to keep track of him.

"Sorry, Sis. I only can chat with him on my 10th server account. I recently paid someone to level that account for me so it's not with me…" YiFan relied gloomily.

"It's fine. It's fine. No need to sound so down." I noticed the sudden gloom in YiFan's voice. I sighed, the kid have no self esteem and gets depressed too easily. "When you get your account back just pass my QQ number to him and tell him the White Robed Witch is looking for his help. He should understand the message. For the time being, how about helping me level up on the 1st server as a Ghostblade?"

"Okay!" YiFan agreed immediately. He was glad to have any opportunity to polish his skills after the weekend.

It was currently hard for YiFan and I to train together since I didn't currently own a desktop or laptop that could run Glory from home. The only two things we could do was either meet up at Tiny Herb or an Internet café on a weekend when he had a home game. I really wanted to avoid the first option as much as possible since I was still avoiding Wang JieXi, but I had a feeling that I would have to see him sooner or later for Project Vaccaria. Don't get me started with the training sessions I would be having in the near future. I just want to bury myself somewhere thinking about how heavy the atmosphere would be in the room with the guy. I should really get the PC situation at home figured out soon.

x

The rest of the week at work went smoothly. All I could say was Lin was really a lifesaver. Lin helped me comb through the contract from the lawyer to make sure I wasn't going to lose ownership to my account and be overly screwed over. He had taken the time to explain each clause of the contract and revise parts that I didn't fully agree with. Lin also stopped by Tiny Herb in my stead to figure out some of the finer details for the Vaccaria figure. I was able to start sculpting at work. By end of the day Friday, I had a good body base for the pose finished. I would start shaving off extra clay and work on the finer details next week.

Early Sunday, I headed out to the agreed Internet café that YiFan and I were meeting up at. It was a hot spot for a lot of gamers since it was conveniently located on the main street. It was also handy for both YiFan and I because it was about midway between Tiny Herb and my place.

YiFan and I met up outside of the café around 9 in the morning. When YiFan isn't wearing his team, he really just looked like a regular high school aged kid on the street I noted. Ah, I felt a bit old standing next to him. I hope people won't think I'm a cougar or something.

Even at 9AM on a Sunday, the place seemed packed. I never had been to an Internet café before, so this was foreign and refreshing. I personally didn't understand why people would pay to play games in a public standing when they could do it at the comfort of their own. But the reality was there were a lot of Internet cafés in City B and most of them packed during peak periods, like early evening hours and weekends.

Once we were registered at the front desk, YiFan and I settled into two computers next to each other in the non-smoking zone. Before I put on the soundproof headphones provided by the café, I noticed how noisy it was. The room was filled with people talking in gaming and sound of keys clattering. There was definitely something about this atmosphere that puts you in a mood to game.

x

I was flooded with a bunch of friend requests and chat from strangers even when I logged into the game under invisible mode.

"Errrr…YiFan, help!" I tried to decline them one by one, but they kept on coming in.

"Here." With a few swift clicks through some setting screens, the chat and friend requests finally stopped. "I turned off all request for you. They shouldn't bother you anymore."

After that's all handed, YiFan and I decided to do level 50 dungeons as opposed to killing wild monsters because there was less chance of being bothered by other players there. YiFan and I attempted a 5 player dungeon in the Western Desert with just his level 70 Peach Blossom and my level 50 White Robed Witch. He and I cannot set a record because Peach Blossom was too high leveled, but we only cared about the experience points. We ran through the dungeon with a lot of difficulty due to my noobiness and the lack of healer in the party. It was a miracle that I made it out alive. There were a few instances that I always died when the dungeon bosses hit red blood or I accidentally OTed.

When we excited the dungeon, it seemed like a group of people had gathered around the dungeon because someone had spotted the White Robed Witch and announced my location in the world chat.

"Greetings!"

"Party with us!"

"Hi!"

" White Robed Witch PARTY."

A mixture of greetings, party requests, and spams bombarded my screen, making the game not playable for me.

"Follow my character." YiFan said to me in game.

Peach Blossom forced her way out of the crowd and took off in a direction and waited. I somehow also managed to push my way out of the crowd and ran towards her.

"Now copy how I run."

With a bit of instruction on when to run, to jog and to walk from YiFan, eventually I got down the pattern. Peach Blossom and White Robed Witch pulled into the distance and eventually lost the crowd of normal players. This moving method had helped reduce stamina use and maximized distance in the long run.

"Let's call it a day. It will be a matter of time before they find us again." I said disappointingly. I looked around my surrounding in game and made sure there were no other players around before logging out of the game. I didn't need someone to announce White Robed Witch's last known location in the world chat and have people stake out at the spot.

"It is still early, what would you like to do now?"

"Let's go shopping! I would like to look into a PC for playing Glory at home."

"Hey! Doesn't that lady look like someone on TV?" Someone yelled loudly as YiFan and I were exiting the Internet café.

YiFan and I shared a nervously before walk quickly out and down the streets before we could found out if I was truly becoming a local celebrity.

* * *

Question: Which character would you like see Naomi interact more/have possible romance in the future?

Spoiler: In the next nine chapters, Naomi already have planned interactions with the following males: Wang JieXi, Han WenQing, Ye Xiu, Zhou ZeKai, and Yu WenZhou. Please look forward to them!

* * *

To Rosy Fire: Thank you for the suggestion. I will def try to include more people's reaction where I can.

To Crystal: Thank you for the review! I'm not sure about Kazumi's mysterious book. For all we know maybe she gutted part of the book and put her phone in there to watch Jdramas in secret xP. She is a crafty one to watch out for! (Small made changes according your recent view. Thanks for the feedback! Unfortunately Naomi is only a hard working normal human and gets tempted by greed. She is not a flawless character.)


	17. Chinese New Year Break

January passed without a sound, and February started without anyone noticing. Before anyone knew it, Chinese New Years was already here. Project Vaccaria was coming along well, but there was also a lot more to do. I still had to double-check some of the measurements, wrinkles of the fabric, the flow of his hair, sculpt his face, pick out plastics, design the base, make the molds, paint the figure, and design the box after the New Year break. Yup still plenty left to do.

Leveling up on the other hand was much more difficult than I had thought. I had forgotten how much grind was involved to reach the next level. It didn't help that I pretty much had a fan club following me around anytime I had been spotted.

With the re-introduction of the White Robed Witch in game, there was a huge spike of active players in the 1st server players for the first time after the game's initial release. However, due to the same fame, it was harder for me to do anything peacefully in game. Besides going to lower level dungeons with YiFan on some weekends, I couldn't do much else like quests, monster hunter, and other things because everyone wanted something from me. By end of January, I only managed to reach level 52. Half way through January, I pretty much gave up playing and concentrated my efforts in to finishing sculpting Vaccaria.

In the end, I also decided against buying a gaming PC for home use because of the pricing. If I wanted something around mid-tier performance, the price was probably enough for a kidney on the blackmarket. Now I understand why so many people run to Internet Cafés to game. You get to use a nice computer with high speed Internet for only 6 RMB per hour.

Right before Chinese New Years week, I released an update and a new illustration for Project Vaccaria on my brand new Weibo. I also hinted that the unpainted figure would be done soon after New Years. The response was super positive. Tiny Herb was doing well in their season so that helped to get their fans hyped about the figure. A lot of Samsara fans posted on the forum saying they wanted to see a sketch of Cloud Piercer. Many fans of other teams asked which character was planned after Cloud Piercer. Everyone wanted to see their favorite made into a 3D figure.

x

I couldn't fly back to the States for this break, but I wasn't too disappointed by that. I didn't have much desire to go back either at this point. This was the first New Years I was away from my parents and New Years was a day to spend with family. Thus, My Aunty and Uncle invited me to celebrate at their place. They lived in City Y, which thankfully was only an overnight train ride away from City B.

I found out in advance that YiFan also had a few days off during the New Years week, so we planned to leave for city Y together after he finished his team training on that Friday. Adding the weekend before and the week, we could spend a few days in City Y. YiFan had return to Tiny Herb by the following Friday because there was an additional training session on Saturday before an competition event planned by the Alliance on the last day of the Lunar New Year Break.

I looked for train tickets a month in advance and it wasn't enough time. All the private rooms with bed on the train were already sold out, and the even plain seats were expensive for the dates I was looking at. With a lot of help from Lin over the last month, I somehow managed to buy two seats on the train that was next to each other.

Late afternoon Friday, I experience the infamous Lunar New Year's rush. I attempted to flag down a cab to get to Tiny Herb and then the train station. After 45 minutes of standing in the freezing cold with my carry-on bag, I finally caught myself a cab. I knew traffic would be terrible, so I gave YiFan and myself over three hours to get to the train stations. When we arrived at the stations, we had only had 35 minutes squeeze through the sea of people and board the train. Even though YiFan and I only had carry-on bags and no checked bags, we still only barely made it onto the train.

Once YiFan and I found our seat on the train, we could finally took a breather. The train ride it self was uneventful. The train was packed full of people going to various places with their New Years gifts, but everyone mostly kept to themselves or groups. The outside was dark. You couldn't see much of the scenery besides the fluttering goose feather like snow. YiFan and I were both tired from all the running and squeezing through the crowd. For dinner, we had some very unhealthy salted snacks. Then, I send a text message with the approximate arrival time to Aunty before falling asleep with YiFan next to me. Did I mention he had the cutest sleeping face? I just had to take a picture on the phone of that face so I can tease or blackmail him later with it.

When YiFan and I woke up in the morning, we were still a few stops away. City Y was the last city in the train line so there was no way for us to miss our stop. Close to 11AM, we arrived at our destination. The two of us were the last ones to get off the train. Everyone else seemed to be rushing to grab his or her luggage from the overhead rack and running off the train. YiFan and I didn't want to be part of the chaos and risk of being injured or separated so we chose to stay seated until everyone was gone.

x

"YiFan! JingChun! Over here!" Uncle waved us over when he saw the two of us making our way towards the exit.

After so many years, I could hardly recognize my aged Aunty and Uncle. Aunty was not as youthful as she was in my memories, and Uncle had gained quite a bit of weight around the middle. I'm sure Aunty and Uncle wouldn't have recognized me either if it weren't for their son by my side. Out of everyone, I was the one who had change the most. Any teen would become an adult in 10 years after all.

"Ah, let Uncle take care of your bags! JingChun, have you been not eating well? You are so skinny. We need to get more meat on your bones." Aunty immediately began fuss over YiFan and I like old times. I laughed as she tossed both of our bags in Uncles direction and started to boss him around. The strong female gene must run in the maternal side of the family since my mom was the same way.

Aunty and Uncle had moved to a newer and bigger apartment in the last few years and bought a Chinese brand car. Since I haven't been back to the city for 10 years, uncle took the whole family on a tour around the city before heading home. As Uncle drove through the city, I was lost in the city sights.

The streets would be decorated with lights for Christmas and January 1st. But for Chinese New Year, every shop, every street, and every family would go all out with decorations for the day they consider as the one true New Year. Red was the color for Chinese New Years because it was considered lucky. There were red lanterns hanging on every street lamp. Fancy red paper cut into the New Year animal or lucky words were taped to many windows. Lucky words printed on red paper glued to every door entrance.

"Ah, look, that's YiFan's elementary school where you used to always pick him up!" Uncle said as we drove by a school like structure.

"Dad! Don't bring up embarrassing things!" YiFan yelled.

"Why is that embarrassing? We thought it was super cute. Didn't we, Honey?" Aunty laughed along with Uncle.

I sat silently in the back of the car. Many things around this city had torn down, updated, and expanded. I didn't recognize the school or anything else in the city. Everything had changed. Places I remember no longer excited. I had been excited to return to somewhere familiar, but this city was just as strange to me as City B. I felt more and more anxious as Uncle and Aunty continued to point out the different buildings or places in town that I should recognize.

x

When we finally arrived at Aunty and Uncle's new home, everything there was foreign to me too. They now lived on the very top of the apartment rise without an elevator (1). Getting up and down those stairs was a daily workout. The layout of the apartment was very different than their older one too. The furniture and room decor had been replaced. They had hired a FengShui (风水) master prior to moving in and arranged everything according to that master for best flow of chi, luck, and fortune. The only thing that was familiar to me was that old desktop from years ago. I felt somewhat relieved when I saw the familiar case.

"You guys still kept that old thing?" I laughed as I examined the ancient machine. The bulky machine looked a bit out of place in the modernized apartment. I pressed the power button out of curiosity to see if it still worked. The machine grunted at start up but then hummed with life.

"It still works well. Why throw it away if it still works?" Aunty said from the kitchen.

"We add in more RAM inside to help it run a bit better." Uncle pitched in as he helped Aunty in the kitchen.

I sat in front of the desktop and dug through some old files that were still saved on there from a long time by me. Most of them are old homework assignments I never bothered deleting. Others were anime characters and figures that I liked at the time. Being in middle school and without a job, it was impossible for to get into an expensive hobby like figure collecting. But I had an eye for these things from an early age.

I smiled at how far I have gone in life. I now probably owned over 30 pieces in my collection from various series, sculptors, and companies. Since sculpting figure was part of my job, it was always good for me to see, buy, and study other people's work. Most of my collection was still in American. I only brought my most favorite ones during the move to China. I will have my parents ship or bring the rest at a later date.

Life lesson: no matter how good you are at your work, there will always be someone better you could learn from.

x

Speaking of parents, when we arrived at the apartment, the first thing Aunty did was open up a video chat with my parents in the states. My parents had been worrywarts about my arrival by train. Despite the 13-hour difference, I'm sure my mom had been constantly messaging my aunt for details about what we were doing or where we at.

It was nice to see my parents again, even if it was on the tiny screen of a smartphone. But I was glad that Aunty and my mom kind of just took over the whole conversation while she cooked in the kitchen. To be honest, my parents and I haven't talked much since I moved to China.

I had only occasionally texted my mom to not forget the dogs needed their monthly Heartguard or the cat was due for her annual shots. Other than that, we had rarely talked. One of the reasons was anytime we did talk over the phone, that guy and the break up would somehow come up, and then she would tell me to 'get on the horse again and find someone else'. This was her way of giving me tough love (and to get married soon), but that isn't what I needed right now. My dad always just worried from the background and get updates from my mom because he didn't know how to deal with the situation.

x

By the time the feast was done cooking, it was too late to call it lunch and too early to call it dinner. Aunty and Uncle had bought and cooked way too much food for just the four of us. They cooked a total of 8 amazing dishes varying ingredients from the sky, to the land, and to the sea. There was a whole fish steamed with herbs to welcome prosperity, chicken for luck, dumplings for wealth, Chinese broccoli for health, rice cake for success, etc. Each item had some kind of meaning of what they brought to the New Year.

After everyone was stuffed full, I handed out New Years gifts. I got a MK leather wallet for Aunty, a cashmere scarf for Uncle, and a red envelope for YiFan. Aunty, Uncle, and YiFan obviously weren't expecting gifts at all, and didn't prepare anything for me. I didn't mind at all since I was freeloading here for a few days.

The family spent a few hours sipping tea, eating sunflower seeds, and chatting until it was time to watch the Chinese New Year program. During the down time, Uncle showed me how to access a proxy site to access blocked website in China – like FB, Google, and Gmail. I decided to check my FB and Gmail at a later time because I'm sure it was full of unread messages and emails with news and questions that would ruin my night.

x

My parents were able to stream the program everywhere from the States. But something about being here in the moment made Chinese New Years feel much more festive and special. Throughout the evening, the sound of fireworks and firecrackers could be heard constantly outside. The sound wasn't a bother at all though, in fact the sound only added to the festive atmosphere.

During some point of the TV program, I took out my phone and opened QQ to send a message. There were only two contacts on my QQ so far, one was YiFan and the other was Han WenQing. The note that Old Man Han left for me during the All-Star Weekend was his QQ number so we can keep in contact and his phone number for emergency cases.

I clicked on Old Man Han's greyed out name – he was either offline or invisible – and wished him a Happy New Years. Not even a minute later, I received a New Years greeting from him too. I guess he was currently playing dead. I also send the same greeting to YiFan. He was sitting right next to me, but I did to mess with him. When YiFan received the message, he gave me a 'you really just did that?' look after checking his phone.

Once the New Year count down ended and the old year had passed, it was time for bed. The sleeping arrangement had been overlooked until this point. The apartment only had two bedrooms: the master bedroom and second bedroom. It was obvious that Aunty and Uncle would be in the master's, but what was YiFan and I to do? No one had really thought about the issue until bedtime.

"I can sleep on the couch." I really didn't mind. I had slept on many couches before, so one more added to my list wasn't a huge deal.

"Nonsense, we can't treat our precious guest this way. You and YiFan can share the bed in the second bedroom."

"Mom! That's not appropriate!" YiFan, who fell asleep during the program, woke up startled.

"What's not appropriate? You guys are family, so it's fine. You have shared a bed before." Aunty said, still treating both YiFan and I like kids from years ago.

Sure it was fine when we were both kids, but YiFan and I were both grown now so things were more complex. On the other hand, YiFan and I already did share a bed at All-Star Weekend and it wasn't a huge deal.

"I don't mind, the bed is big enough for two." I agreed.

"Sis! You are not helping."

"It's fine. I won't tell if you won't tell." I teased.

"That isn't the issue." YiFan flustered.

YiFan, being a kind and shy boy, ended up volunteering to sleep on the hard, cold leather couch for the 4 nights we stayed in City Y and ended up with backache for a few days after.

* * *

Chapter 17.5 Bonus Chapter: New Years Special (Side story/Fluff/Crack?)

While YiFan and I get a whole week off for the Spring Festival, most of the working population doesn't have it as easy. Aunty and Uncle had to return to work the day after New Years. They tried to take the days off for the week, but it was a blacked out period. If everyone could take the days around Spring Festival off then no one would be working and nothing would get done .

For four days in City Y, YiFan and I were pretty much stuck at home. It wasn't a bad thing though. I used the ancient PC to run the Spring Festivals quest in Glory over and over again. I was surprised that the server was not as crowded as I thought it would be. It was probably because of the holiday, a lot of players were spending more time offline with their families and friends.

I did get some useful in-game things, like skill books, rare materials, and good experience. Just after a day of repeating the quest, the White Robed Witch's level increased 2 more levels! It was a bit depressing to think that I had spent the last month on and off slaving over 2 levels.

To help me get the easy experience points during the event, YiFan and I took turns running the quests on White Robed Witch throughout the day. There was probably not going to be another repeatable chain quests that would give out so much experience until next Christmas and Spring Festival. But there was a limit on how many times I could repeat the quests before being bored to death.

What was a girl suppose to do when she was bored with not too much to do? The mall of course! Sure shopping can be easily done online nowadays, but going out once in a while was good. Everyone had to breath in the outside air and to rejoin the outside world once in a while.

I was also a sucker for sales. This was the time for big sales and price cuts on almost everything. I didn't really need anything and couldn't get anything too big, but window-shopping wasn't a crime. And the mall had a collection of places to eat at: ramen, hot pot, steak, seafood, cake, etc. You get the point. Sure I still had to do research on the lava base for Project Vaccaria, but I can take a day off and still get it done.

As if I need more reason to head out and slack off for the day, I got a QQ message from Old Man Han when I was getting dressed for the day. He was in town visiting relatives too and had time to show me around town before heading back to City Q to be a workaholic. He knew that I was coming into the area in advance from our chats and made time so we could meet up.

By the time I was all bundled up and ready to head out, YiFan was still asleep on the sofa. I woke up the lazy butt before leaving and told him I was going to hang with a friend. If he needed to reach me for any reason, he can call or message me on QQ.

x

I waited by the gated parking lot entrance of the apartment rises. A plain looking grey sedan pulled up to the curve shortly and rolled down their slightly tined passenger window.

"Need ride, Brat?" A casually dressed Han WenQing leaned in and asked through the open window.

Old Man Han was wearing jeans, heavy-duty boots, and a black feather down jacket. If I didn't know any better, I would never think this well built man played video games for a living. If he frowned a little less, along with how he was dressed, he looked like a construction worker. But because he did have that permanent frown on his face, he looked like a well-dressed thug. I smiled at the thought.

"Yup! But Old Man, you shouldn't try to pick up chicks off the side of the road like this in the future. Some people might find it weird and call the cops." I teased while sliding into the passenger side.

"You shouldn't jump into random people's car in the future, Brat. It's not safe." Old Man Han rolled his eyes, but had a play smirk on his lips.

"Here, for you. Hope they fit." I took out a pair of men's black leather gloves from my handbag and tossed it in his direction.

"What's this for?" He raised an eyebrow.

"A gift. It's for your hands. What do you think it's for?" I stated the obvious and he gave me a deadpan look. "Pro-player's hands are their life no? You should shield better them from the weather."

"Where do you want to go?" Old Man Han asked after he put on his gift. They seemed to fit well. He now looked even more like a fancy gangster that picks fights in the back alleys with the gloves. I stifled a laugh.

"The mall."

"We are not going to the mall." He said as he started driving down the street. He picked me up in a no standing zone. But street signs are only a suggestion if there were no cops around.

"Why not?" I pouted a little.

"Too many annoying people this time of the year. I didn't take you for a mall person."

Talk about antisocial. But then again, I did agree with him too. There were a lot of young immature people off from school this time of the year and hanging out at the mall.

"I agree but the mall have a lot of places to eat all in one spot, and looks like they have a movie theatre on the top floor." I looked through the shops and services available at the mall on my phone. They had a sweet shop that served Korean bingsoo (2)! Yummy!

"Who starved you in your last lifetime(3)?" If he wasn't concentrating on the road, I'm sure he would be giving me a judgmental look. Every time we chatted, food would somehow always come up. Even though he said we weren't going, somehow we still arrived in the mall's underground parking.

x

"Bingsoo! Bingsoo!" I sang as I pulled him towards the sweets shop that caught my attention.

"I'm not going into a sweet shop." He halted in his steps when he realized where I was pulling him. I tried pulling and pushing, but the guy was solid and wouldn't budge.

"Don't tell me you are the type of guy that says, 'real men don't eat sweets.'" I said in a low voice, imitating a guy's voice. "I'm sorry you have lived your life that way. You have been missing out in life, Old Man."

"…"

"You can just watch me eat. You don't have to eat any. You won't die by stepping into a sweet shop. I promise!

"…"

"If you are going to be difficult, I'm going have to cash in my win from 9 years ago.

"You wouldn't for something this stupid." He glared.

"I would." I smiled wickedly because I knew I had pushed on a sore spot.

x

Way back in the days when I was a complete noob, I would drag down any party I dungeon with. The run would end in pure disaster and sometime result in a complete team wipe out. In the end, nobody wanted to include me anymore. To cheer me up and encourage me to get better, Old Man suggested that if I somehow manage to beat him in PvP, I could trade in that win for a favor.

During all the time that we fought in the Arena, I had only won against him once. It was an underhanded win, but a win was a win. During the first few month of Glory, the 1st server wasn't very stable and would sometimes disconnect user without warning.

During one of our fight, I discovered that Old Man disconnected mid-battle but his character was still stuck in the Arena. Instead of being a courteous player and let his character log off peacefully after a while, I mercilessly killed the sitting duck. One Autumn Leaf already destroyed his perfect record, so I thought leaving another mar on his record wouldn't be a big deal anyways. But he was so mad that he ignored me for a month. And that's the story how the White Robed Witch upped one on the Dessert Dust 9 years ago and how he owed me a favor now.

x

"Fine. I'm not eating anything here though." He said begrudgingly as he followed me inside the shop.

The shop was a bit on the expensive side even for my standards; that explained the plentiful seating and quiet atmosphere. It wasn't a bad thing though, I'm sure someone in the mall would eventually recognize the infamous Captain Han. This would make a good hiding spot for now.

"You know you wouldn't die from trying a bite." I said as we sat down in a booth in the corner of the store by the windows with our food and drink. I offered a spoonful of delicious matcha bingsoo topped with matcha ice cream his way, but he just turned his nose up towards the spoon. No point of wasting good food on him then. I ate the spoonful of cold treat. Yum! "You are really out."

"You are crazy for eating shaved ice in this weather." Old Man Han said as he sipped his hot coffee. Han WenQing felt awkward to just watch me eat, so he ordered himself a cup of black coffee.

I shrugged and kept on stuffing my face with my icy treat just to spite him. Then in the end, I was the only one who suffered from painful brain freezes.

"Idiot." Old Man Han snickered at my pain.

x

Coming to the mall with Tyranny's captain Han WenQing had its perks. One of those perks was, even if he was recognized, no fans dared to approach him due to his attitude. Another reason was he helped to keep the all the salespeople away. The salespeople at the department stores seemed to detect his angry aura and avoided us like the plague. Any brave soul who tried to approach us would be send running away with their tail between their legs with one glare from Old Man Han.

For the rest of the day, we spent a Glory-less day at the mall. We window-shopped, ate at multiple restaurants, and watched a new movie from the States I had been dying to watch. I'm not sure how Old Man Han felt about our outing, but I had a blast for sure!

* * *

(1) Only building over certain number of floors (over 6 I think?) are allowed to have an elevator installed.

(2) Bingsoo is Korean shaved ice. It's art and delicious. Google it :)

(3) A common Chinese expression/idiom to describe someone seemed to be deprived of something. Doesn't actually mean Han WenQing believes in reincarnation.

* * *

To Rosy Fire: Thank you for reviewing as always.

To Crystal: Thanks for pointing out grammar issues. I agree Zhou ZeKai probably isn't innocent. He have some dark secret or something. Aren't all large corporation evil/corrupt though? Anytime they are at fault, they just find a scapegoat. Naomi def likes her greens though.

To Naliyu: Thanks for loving this FF. He really does seem like a reliable older brother or something doesn't he? He is totally going to be friend zoned at this rate lol.

* * *

Update: Felt inspired to sketch Naomi and the White Robed Witch. Haven't drawn in years, but would anyone be interested to see how I imagine them to be?


	18. Special Announcement (1)

Special Announcement Time :D

* * *

Hi Everyone!

Sorry this is not a chapter post! The next installment is coming in the next day or two. I still have some final editing to do for chapter 18. From reading everyone's comment and to celebrating me approaching 1k views on FF, I felt inspired to draw Naomi and her character, that got her into the current mess, the White Robed Witch (TWRW)! I have been slaving over these (instead of writing new chapters, sorry... OTZ forgive me!) for the last 3 days or so.

Yea...I could just posted the announcement with the next chapter, but I was just too excited to share the artwork with all of you before then!

If you haven't noticed yet, TWRT have a cover to go with the story now! Yay! About time, I know haha. Also, Naomi and her full body view links are now posted in my profile/bio/whatever you call it thingy. Check them out!

Are the characters different than what you imagined? Sorry that I have ruined with the images in your minds...ahahaha...

Let me know in the reviews of what you think or the links aren't working properly. It has been years since I had to upload any drawings to the Internet...OTZ

I realize TWRT robe looks more gray than white. It looked whiter on my drawing PC...

x

***Disclaimer: I am not a pro artist/or even an artist at all. Self taught for fun. I haven't touched my drawing tablets in years now (6+?) I'm surprised that the thing still works! Lol.***

x

Fun details I was going for in the drawings that you might or might not have noticed:

I was going for a modernized Hanfu (a type of ancient Chinese fashion) for TWRT's outfit. Many details were unfortunately left out since I was in a hurry and had no time to draw in everything (gloves, socks, finer garment patterns/details, etc.)

TWRT's weapon was inspired by clock hands actually.

The thing around her neck is suppose to be a jade necklace. (Going with the whole HanFu/traditional clothing style)

This is actually my second try on Naomi since my first one looked terrible...

Naomi is suppose to be fairly plain and doesn't stand out (maybe it runs in the family with Qiao YiFan?) She is suppose to be neither too pretty nor too ugly. She does like wear big geeky glasses to cover her face because she is self conscious about how she looks like most females in society.

x

Thank you all for all the views and reviews. All of you are awesome! If you have any questions, leave me a review and I will answer it in the next chapter! See you all then. :)

* * *

To most of everyone who reviewed in the last chapter:

I'm glad a lot of you enjoyed last chapter, but hold your horses now peeps. A lot of the guys from the novel haven't even had a chance to show up yet! Keep on reading more fluffs in the future to see who would be the most well suited for Naomi!

To Boss Moss: My train of thought was even though Glory is super popular and stuff, many people in the TKA world still might not play and don't care for the professional scene, etc. So let's just say on the off chance Naomi and Han WenQing got super lucky and didn't get noticed. People who saw them just thought otherwise because there is no way the super mean captain in the history of Glory Alliance could be hanging out with a girl.

To Guest: Traditional Chinese medicine believe eating cold stuff in the winter is bad for your health. Not sure how to explain it English, but I shall try my best! The weather is already cold (寒) and your body absorbs the cold(寒). Cold(寒) is bad and cause sickness. To counterbalance this, you would usually eat food that is categorized as warm (lamb and beef is the only two food I can think off the top of my head) to remove the cold(去寒) so you will get sick less, in theory/Chinese medicine anyways. So that's why it might be a big to Han WenQing, who is older/maybe more traditional, that Naomi is eating shaved ice in the middle of the winter like a Brat.


	19. That Which Cannot be Avoided

A/N: A real chapter if anyone is worried :). An slightly long chapter to make up for yesterday's false update.

For some reason link weren't showing up correct last night in my profile/bio; fixed it today. Sorry if some of you went to look and didn't see the links.

๑•́ㅿ•̀๑) ᔆᵒʳʳᵞ

* * *

The days came and went quickly during the Spring Festival break. In a blink of an eye, it was already time for YiFan and I to head back to City B. After another extravagant dinner cooked by my Aunty and Uncle, YiFan and I caught the overnight train back to City B on Thursday night. YiFan was due back at Tiny Herb by Friday night for the Glory event on the last day of Spring Festival vacation.

Getting a taxi back from the train station was much easier than to because we came back on an odd day. Most people probably already returned earlier or didn't plan to return until this weekend. My plan for the day was to just drop off YiFan at Tiny Herb and go to the company to draw up more designs for Vaccaria's base.

During the break, I felt oddly inspired by the scroll paintings on my Aunty's walls. All the painting came with the title or a poem written in beautiful Chinese brush calligraphy, and the name of the artist stamped in red. The more I studied the paintings the more I felt I needed to incorporated some of the elements into my figure to make the figure feel more Chinese produced.

So far, I planned to laser engrave the Glory logo, Vaccaria's name in Chinese brush calligraphy style, and my Chinese name in the red stamp style onto the bottom of the base. I wanted to work up a few designs for the placement of things to make sure everything still looked clean and not too busy.

x

The day I felt being productive, the world was against me. My day was interrupted when I saw Captain Wang JieXi and Vice Captain Deng FuSheng outside of Tiny Herb when the taxi pulled up to the gate. I quickly tossed YiFan out of the taxi to the waiting tiger and wolf to give myself more time to get away, but I still wasn't fast enough.

"Naomi." Wang JieXi acknowledged me as soon as YiFan was out of the car with his bag. "We got a request from Glory Co about your training. Come inside to set up a training schedule."

After he finished what he wanted to say, Wang JieXi turned around and headed inside the team building. I made a mental groan. He had expected me to follow and didn't leave me any room to argue. The tone of his voice was emotionless and strict like the first time we met. I'm sure he was still sore about the whole situation back in January so I wanted to avoid him. But I also still needed help with a few things in the near future for Project Vaccaria so I didn't dare to turn our relationship even worse. I begrudgingly paid the driver with cash and got out of the car.

"Naomi, YiFan. Did you two have a good break?" Deng FuSheng greeted pleasantly. He waited for YiFan and I at least.

"Couldn't this wait until Monday? I'm still on break, unlike you guys." I pleaded at one point to Deng FuSheng to get out of this weird situation.

"I know JieXi probably don't want me to tell you this, but he said this to get you out of the car." Deng FuSheng said.

"Why?" I was irked. Why did Captain Wang want me to get out of the car? It was cold and wet. I don't like it. Now I had to flag down another cab. And why did it somehow sound like he did me a favor?

"The car you were in isn't an official cab. It's people driving their own private cars for service. It isn't safe. You could be kidnapped or worse." Deng FuSheng explained in simple terms that I would able to understand. He didn't need to finish his thought because I understood so well that my blood turned cold.

"So it's like Uber." I said in a mix of Chinese and English. Deng FuSheng just looked at me confused. He probably didn't understand what the English word meant.

I felt a chill down my spine when I remembered about the stories about people getting killed by Ubers drivers back in the States.

"It's a good idea to turn down those types of cars in the future and only ride in the official yellow and black marked Taxis. Wouldn't be good to let them know where you live. City B is a good city, but you still should be careful. People can target you for no good reason. YiFan, you should watch out for this in the future too."

"Thanks Mr. Deng FuSheng."

"Thank you, Vice Captain!"

YiFan and I replied in unison. I guess I owed Wang JieXi a thank you too. I'm not saying I regret it completely, but my words did feel bad about yelling at him in front of his whole team during All-Star Weekend. Only a little bit, because his team still sucked for being mean to YiFan.

x

After we entered Tiny Herb's building, YiFan and I split up. I headed to the computer lab with Deng FuSheng while YiFan went to unpack in his room. It was awkward to be at Tiny Herb again. I had not stepped inside of here since before All-Star Weekend. Lin had been running everything between Tiny Herb and I after the fight.

When we arrived at the computer lab, Wang JieXi sat alone in the room at his usual computer. Tiny Herb seemed a bit more empty than usual. Most of the staff probably had not returned yet. It was only a little before noon currently; they still had until tonight to get back.

"Sit." Wang JieXi ordered without looking.

Deng FuSheng ignored my pleading eyes directed me to the computer next to the Captain and sat on my other side as if to wall me in.

"Log in and go to the arena. I will assess your skills in PvP."

"You seen me play and seen all my equipment, what else is there to see to know I'm really bad?"

"You didn't play seriously, how am I suppose to know what I'm working with?" Wang JieXi shot my question back with another question.

Great…I went out of my way to avoid battling him during All-Star Weekend, but it looked like I have to fight him anyways.

"I will be using a different witch character and a fixed field."

Captain Wang told me the room number and password when I got close to the Arena. The witch character he chose to use was a very different looking character than Vaccaria. Appearance, however, do not affect the movement speed and ability of the character at all. Braised Pork played by YingJie moved just as nimble as any of the other Glory characters.

x

Wang JieXi and I played for three rounds and neither lasted longer than a minute. I didn't know if there was a point of us fighting like this again and again. Both he knew and I knew that I had no chance of winning against this man. It was like an ant going up against a boot. But it felt terrible to lose so fast. I felt like a complete noob in front of this master. It doesn't make things any better that I knew he was going easy on me too. Maybe he was secretly enjoying watching me lose over and over again. This was his way of getting his revenge by rubbing the giant gap in my face!

"If you are just going to waste both our time, then you are free to go and don't ever come back to Tiny Herb. If you are actually going to try, then again." He said and readied his witch again.

He was vigilant. I was hardly trying because I already knew the gap that existed between us. What was the point? The way he said those words just rubbed me the wrong way. Wasn't the whole point of this special training ordered by the company was for him to teach from scratch instead of him just pointlessly beating me up? But if he wants a fight, I guess I will give him one. I took a deep breath and started the battle again.

 _I will show him what I'm made out of!_ I imaged the White Robed Witch standing victoriously over his character after this round.

Instead of rushing blindly into battle this time, I stayed still and observed. Wang JieXi's witch sent Magic Missile my way. I blocked with Ice Wall and returned fired with Frost Ball. He hopped on his broom and flew around me in circles. I used Mobile Cast and then Blizzard to see if I could force him down to the ground. The attack animations seemed so slow compared to his flying skills in the air. His witch was able to leisurely dodge all the falling ice in the sky and Frost Balls while tossing down his own Lava Flask and Acid Rain attacks.

It would be too OP if witches could be in the air indefinite. I calculated the moment and the spot that he would be forced to land for the briefest moment. I managed to draw two Ice Lines within the skill time limit. Wang JieXi had seen through my simple tricks and landed away from the lines. If he avoided them, then I would just have to force him to step on them.

The moment I knew the spot the witch was going to land, White Robed Witch flipped her staff turning the staff into a spear. He only landed a few steps away from I drew the Ice Lines. I calculated that I had time force him to step on the lines before they disappeared. The White Robed Witch rushed forward with Dragon Tooth to herd his character in the direction I want. Wang JieXi didn't even try to dodge because he knew my attack wouldn't reach. It was all right though. I had used the skill decrease the distance between our characters. Just before his witch was going to take off again, I managed to hit him with a piercing Lightning and send him toppling with a Falling Flower Palm. Darn! My calculation was off, Falling Flower Palm pushed his character too far from the spot where I wanted him.

x

Despite the slight improvement in the last battle, I still lost badly under a minute. Just as I picked up my hand speed and started to play more seriously, Wang JieXi also got more seriously and increased his hand speed too. In the end, he went all out on me with his Magician style play. He gave me no opening or hopes to turn things around after the initial improvement.

"Not hopeless." Wang JieXi concluded after the battle and did not ready his character again. "Your reaction and judgment are not bad, but your hand reaction speed can't keep up and miscalculate at times. Part of the issue is that you aren't familiar with your own keys, skills, and the game. We will start to work on that along some other basics.

Wang JieXi took the time to help me set up all my keys onto the left 1/3 of the keyboard and a few hot keys on mouse. He then told me test the new setup out in the arena with him a few more times until we found something that I can get comfortable with. I had never used a gaming mouse, so my left and right coordination was a mess.

"Don't worry, you will get use to the keys with more use." Wang JieXi encouraged. "FuSheng, have her run through level 1 movement training modules and give her pointers."

"Yes, Captain."

After a whole afternoon of training, I was mentally tired and my hand was cramping up. The drills required my full attention. Any time I got slightly side tracked, I would fail the module and had to start over again. These modules were just as, if not more, dry and draining as the jump quests in game. I didn't understand how eSport player could stand running the same drills over and over again. I think I'd die.

The pro players tinkled into the lab one by one during the afternoon. I'm sure everyone in the room had laughed at how bad I was when they looked over curiously. I found even the level 1 modules challenging. When I looked over at Wang JieXi's screen at one point, he was running a level 50 module with ease. Show off. Why was I sitting next to him again? Oh right, it was so he can check in on my progress. At the end of the afternoon of torture, Wang JieXi and I exchanged QQ info so we can check in with each other about training related stuff.

x

I ate dinner at Tiny Herb with YiFan and finally had a chance to sketch down my design ideas for work after. Tiny Herb's manager convinced me to stay for the night because it was late, dark, and snowing heavily outside. When I saw the layer of snow outside, I knew there weren't going to be many Taxis running in this weather and walking home would be dangerous.

"Did you want to play Glory together tonight?" YiFan asked from the computer in his room.

"I think I Glory-ed too much today. Your Captain and Vice Captain gave me a lot to process. Besides, I can't play Glory in peace anyways. Too many admirers." I said from the bunk bed. I was sitting under some covers in bed drawing. I know this was bad for my back and posture, but I was feeling a little chilly.

"I plan to start the Heavenly Domain quests when I get my Ghostblade back. If Sis also do the quests, we can play together with God Ye Qiu there."

Ye Qiu's name peaked my interest. I was looking for a way to contact the guy after all. Be able to talk to him in game directly again would be handy for a lot of reasons.

"So what are the requirements for these quests?"

YiFan explained the ridiculous series of quests to me. Was it even humanly possible to do for a normal player? I mean serious 1 versus 100 with only normal attacks? It would probably be easy for a warrior class since they do high damage with their high ATK status, but I'm a mage class! Oh wait, I guess the White Robed Mage had high attack power due to her set, so I really shouldn't complain.

"I can help you with the technical quests, but you should do the PvP portion yourself. I think it will help you improve and get use to fighting the different classes.

"I suppose I can blow off some steam by killing some innocent bystanders in game." I cracked my knuckles at the thought.

"Don't say it like that." YiFan sweat dropped at my killing intent.

For the rest of the night, I tried to attempt the first quest, a much hated jumping quest, in the line of Heavenly Domain quests. With my current skills, it was pretty much impossible. If I'm going to hold a candle to any pro-player next season, I still had a long way to go.

(1) There are phone lines that is connected through the Internet so it's possible and free to make international calls.

(2) Wei (喂) is the super casual way picking up the phone.

x

Bonus Chapter 18.5: Valentine's Day Special(Side story/Fluff/Crack?)

In my honest opinion, Valentine's Day was a man-made holiday to just sell more cards, chocolates, and other unless things to make money; it was not a real holiday. It wasn't a huge deal to spend Valentine's Day alone, but seeing all the couples in the streets and at work the whole week before the gross holiday made me painfully aware that I was now single.

It was also the first time in two years since I had to spend it alone. The first year my ex-fiancé was in the process of charming me, so we went to a seafood restaurant. Last year, we looked at engagement rings together and had a fancy dinner on a rooftop steakhouse. We had been one of those happy couples.

It also didn't help that I was able to access Gmail and FB in China again recently too. Everyone messaged me on Google Hangout and FB Messenger when they saw me online for the first time in months. They all wanted to ask how I was doing, where I was, and if I knew my ex-fiancé was now dating my once close friend now.

After assuring everyone that I was alive and I really didn't care what the two were doing, I logged off my accounts. Even though everything had been over for a few month, but I felt the pain of old wounds reopening. It hurt a little less this time around, but it still stung to know somehow I wasn't good enough and was replaced.

The Friday before Valentine's Day weekend, Aiko gave handmade chocolates to Jin. Sam received a stack of boxed chocolates from many women around the company. Lin showed up with chocolates from his wife to share. Heck even Mazuki received chocolates from a secret admirer.

I tried not be bothered by the fact that I was the only one without any chocolate, but I was really salty! To make myself feel better, I decided that I would call YiFan to hang out at my apartment on the stupid, fake, most unimportant holiday ever. Per the Alliance's schedule, Tiny Herb should have a home game this weekend, so YiFan should be free to hangout on Sunday.

x

[Hey. Is there any important team stuff going on Sunday, 2/14?] During lunch break, I decided to abuse the QQ number that Wang JieXi gave me.

[No. You can over and train.] Wang JieXi quickly replied. He must have been on lunch break too.

[I wasn't planning to go over Sunday. Can you send YiFan over?]

[I fail to see how that will help with your training.]

[It's not training related. I just need to borrow him for that day, please?]

[Request rejected. Naomi, please refrain from contacting me for this type of requests again.]

I sighed. It seemed like Wang JieXi and I were back on strictly professional relationship again. Even if I can't hang out with YiFan, I will still have an awesome Sunday I decided. I'm going to treat myself to some KFC that was a bit out of the way, watch all the Rush Hour movies, and maybe unpack and short out some of the moving boxes that were still stacked in the corner of the apartment. Seemed like a great plan!

x

**(Sorry folks, since Wang JieXi rejected Naomi's request so the bonus story ends here!)**

**(…JK! I just couldn't help myself. Sorry!)**

x

x

Early Sunday morning, the mail app on my phone was blowing up. Even with the phone on silent mode, it was hard to not notice the screen constantly flashing when another new email had arrived. I unlocked my phone and flipped through the one hundred something emails that were forwarded from my Gmail account.

I felt my blood turn cold and my heart racing in my rib cage. From just a glimpse of the titles on the emails, I knew exactly what happened that had caused everyone to check in on me. Many of the emails were from FB saying I had new unread messages or someone had posted to my wall. Others were emails from friends with pictures attached. I clicked opened an email from a good friend who helped me piece myself back together after the bad break up.

[Hey girl. I'm sure you probably seen or heard from someone else by now. But seriously, doesn't this look like your ring? I can't believe they did this to you, wtf. -2 attachment-]

When I enlarged the image in the attachment, I glared at the phone screen. I felt disgusted and nauseous when two familiar faces grinned me like nothing in the world was wrong. On her left middle figure, she wore a very noticeable diamond ring. The second image attachment in the email was a close up of the ring that I recognized anywhere. They got engaged the night before Valentine's Day with the ring he had once given to me!

I had given (more like tossed) the engagement ring back in his face when I caught him with her under the sheets in his apartment. The cheap bastard had 'recycled' my old ring, and the bitch was wearing the ring like it belonged to her from the beginning despite knowing where it came from. I was angry beyond words. Those two were despicable in many ways; they were really perfect for each other in many ways.

After skimming through the rest of the emails that contained the same information, I didn't feel like doing anything today anymore. Old wounds were fully opened and angry tears fell down the sides of my face. Spending the whole day crying in bed sounded nice. While I spend most of the day in bed, it gave me time to think about things. All the poor life choices, all the signs of him cheating, pretty much everything that made my feel even worse.

x

I really didn't plan to get out of bed, but I ran out of boxed tissue paper on the nightstand. I forced myself out of bed to head to the 7-11 down the street to buy more. As I put on my shoes, I heard a couple talking sweetly to each other outside the apartment door that made me broke down in fresh tears again and the sickening feeling in my stomach returned.

I rethought about my plan. The street would be filled with more sickening sweet couples on this super lovely day. I don't think I would make it there and back without breaking down in the middle of the street or lashing out at someone like a crazy person. The chances of me going to the police station was high.

[Hey YiFan. Could you come over today? Bring me a few boxes of tissues. Something happened, talk to you when you get here. I don't really want to be alone today. My address is ###### XXXXX Street, Apt ###.] I send out a message hoping against all odds that YiFan would see this message soon and was crafty enough to get away from the team.

While waiting for YiFan, I wrapped myself in my favorite fluffy blanket and put on my go to chick flick movie. Feeling emotionally drained already only 2 hours into the day, I feel asleep halfway through the movie on my large couch.

x

Buzz…Buzz…Buzz…

I woke up to the buzzing of my phone. I hoped that it was YiFan calling to check up on me, but the universe would never be that kind to me. 'Home' the caller ID flashed (1). I knew what was coming, but I had to pick up or I'm sure my parents would call the cops to come and check on me.

"Wei (喂)(2)?" I mumbled into the phone.

"What is going on? Is he out of his mind, giving her your ring?" My mom yelled through the phone.

It couldn't be helped that some of my friend's parents already knew my parents. The news of engagement spread like wildfire in my social group and now had reached my parents and probably other relatives too.

After hanging up with my mom, I was left back in my bubble of gloom. My parents like most Asian parents were only good at pushing their kids towards success and had no idea what to do when we were met with difficulties in life. Mom and I talked for a little and it didn't help me feel any better. She kept asking if I was all right, but honestly my feelings were all over the place and I didn't know what to feel anymore. I restarted the movie that had finished playing in the background and stared at the TV screen like a zombie.

x

A knock on my door woke me up from my stupor. YiFan was here! I tripped over myself to open up the door. I craved hugs right now, and YiFan made the perfect teddy bear to hug.

"YiFan! He… her…my ring…" I tackled the taller male into a hug and buried my face his jacket. I sobbed out some incoherent words. Just as I thought I had no more tears to cry, fresh tears poured out. I sobbed loudly for the whole world to hear. A hand awkwardly patted me on my back.

"What's with the weak hug? Can't you even hug your sister properly?" I squeezed the boy around the middle a little tighter looking for comfort.

"Er…Hm…Sis, I'm actually over here." YiFan's small voice said from the side.

"Huh?" I sniffled. The male currently trapped in my bear hug did feel slightly taller and muscular than YiFan's normal frame. If YiFan was over there, then who was over here?

I wiped my tears out of my eyes with my sleeves and saw two different sized of eyes staring back down at me. Well…snicker doodles… I felt my face heat up from my mistake and at the close contact. I quickly averted my eyes to break eye contact.

"Sorry! Sorry! I thought you were… Why are you here?" I quickly released Wang JieXi and stumbled back in embarrassment. "Why is he here!" I demanded in YiFan's direction. That message was suppose to be private! How dare he read YiFan's messages and invade people's privacy! There is a thing called HIPAA, although it didn't pertain to the situation on hand.

All Wang JieXi did was opened up his QQ. The message that was supposed to go to YiFan was somehow on his phone screen instead.

"You sent the message to the wrong person Sis. Captain came with me to check up on you since it looked urgent." YiFan explained.

I quickly opened up QQ and saw that I did indeed make the mistake. I admit I was completely at fault. I had opened up the most recent chat and send the message without really looking at the name of the person.

"Let's all go inside before other people decide to check up on this commotion." Wang JieXi said wisely as he calmly directed everyone inside the apartment.

x

It had become quite awkward in my apartment with YiFan and Wang JieXi in the same space. I attached myself to YiFan on the couch with the blanket over myself and hide my face in his shirt on one end of the couch. YiFan just put an arm around me and handed me a facial tissue whenever I need a new one. Wang JieXi sat wordlessly on the other end of the couch and studied my living situation. I was super glad that the apartment had came with a large 4-piece sectional couch.

Decided that it won't be ignored any longer in this awkward time, my stomach growled loudly. It was then I realized it was already 1 in the afternoon and I haven't eaten anything since dinner last night. I curled up a little tighter under my blanket. Oh the hunger pains were real.

"Have you eaten yet?" Wang JieXi suddenly asked.

"No." I admitted.

"Is KFC okay?" Wang JieXi asked as he started to texted someone on his phone.

"Yes." KFC was a magic word to me. Just hearing the word made me drool. It was one of weakness in life.

"You like McDonald?"

"Their fries are good."

"What pizza topping?"

"Just cheese."

"Coke or Pepsi."

"Pepsi."

"Cake or pie."

"Cake."

"White meat or dark meat?"

"Dark meat. What's with all the questions?" Curious, I finally came out of under my blanket. I made my way towards Wang JieXi to see what he was up to on his phone. I found it strange that he was asking so many food questions.

"You said you didn't want to be alone today right?" He looked at me with a kindness in his eyes that I haven't seen in a while.

"You are not going to ask why?" I ask in a kneeling position besides him on the couch.

"I'm sure you would tell me if you wanted me to know."

I nodded while stifling a sob. I wasn't sure if he had understood anything I had said when I sobbed my heart out initially. But I was thankful that he pretended to not know if he did figure thing out.

"The Tiny Herb team will spend the rest of their day here as special training. You might want to wash up before everyone arrives." Wang JieXi said as he continued to text on his phone.

"Eeep!" I squealed. I wasn't expecting so many guests today. My face was a complete mess right now from a morning of crying. My eyes were red and puffy and my nose was raw from excess tissue use. My apartment needed some cleaning too! I had junk food left out all around the apartment. Did I even brush my bed head this morning? I quickly hid my face under my hands and ducked into the bathroom.

x

Within the span of the hour, the rest of the team showed up in pairs with different foods. They arrived with fried chicken, pizza, fries, Pepsi, and a strawberry cream cake. I loved Asian cake just as I loved fried chicken, and that cake looked divine! It was a bachelorette's feast.

"Sis Wang! Can we watch the Lord of the Rings Trilogy?" YingJie asked as he and some of the other guys on the team found my movie collection.

"I want to see the Harry Potter films!"

"Jurassic Park is better."

"No way! We are watching Pitch Perfect!" I abused my power of host and replayed the disk in the blu-ray player for the 3rd time today.

"Ugh. Gross." Some of the guys groaned at my movie choice.

"Oh good! I wanted to pirate, I mean watch this movie when it came out!" Liu Yei happily planted herself on the couch cushion that was closest to the TV after she grabbed a plate of food.

x

The guys surprisingly liked the movie more than they thought they would – it probably helped a lot that the main female lead was good looking – but they wouldn't watch another chick flick. After the movie, the guys helped set up my Wii that was still in one of the moving boxes and started taking turns playing Mario Party and Mario Kart. Even while playing a party game, the guys became super competitive with each other. My usual quiet home quickly became rowdy.

Despite how the day started, I had a good Feb 14th. My mind was no longer on the guy and the girl that didn't deserve my attention and energy anymore. I found myself laughing and smiling along with this group of people. The two growing boys on the team, YiFan and YingJie, got tired and were asleep on one side of the couch. Liu Yei was streaming some TV show on her phone and sitting in a corner eating snacks she found in my hidden stash. The rest of the guys, minus Wang JieXi, sat on the rug in front of the TV and took turns played Wii games. I looked to the person who made all of this possible beside me on the couch. He was currently attentively watching over his team. As if he could feel me staring, he looked in my direction.

"Thanks." I whispered softly in all the noise and flashed him a gratefully smile.

"No need to cry. Your future is brilliant." He whispered back. His gaze lingered.

"You know how to tell fortunes (看相) now too, Mr. Magician?" I teased.

"That's something for me to know and you to find out." He smiled and went along with my teasing easily.

* * *

(1) There are phone lines that is connected through the Internet so it's possible and free to make international calls.

(2) Wei (喂) is the super casual way picking up the phone.

A/N: Bonus chapters will be based on the timeline of the story or I tend to forget to write/post them...


	20. The Price Isn't Right

By end of February the base model was done and painted. The base model, molds, and packaging were now ready to send to the factor for pre-ordering and mass production. The number to be produced and price was out of my hands; those numbers were determined between Tiny Herb and the Glory Co's higher ups.

The day I presented them the finished product, the company wanted me to do a photoshoot of the final figure and write a short article about all the small details to post on my weibo for the fans. Since I was involved in every step, I knew this figure inside out. The figure looked majestic from every angle and it was easy for me to point about all the cool details I had put into the figure that most people probably wouldn't notice. Of course, I wrote everything in English and then gave the article to Lin to translate. When the article was posted, the Internet exploded. 'Vaccaria Figure' became the top searched term in China for days.

x

At end of one of Tiny Herb's home tournament in mid-March, I stood on stage along with Wang JieXi, Lin and the host for Vaccaria figure up-coming preorder announcement. For the announcement, I brought the painted figure to the stadium to be put under the camera. I talked about the figure in English while Lin translated for me. Also as a last minute decision by the Tiny Herb and Glory Co., the first 100 people to order when the pre-order opened will receive a figure with a special base that had Wang JieXi's signature engraved on the bottom. After the figure introduction was finished, I shook hands with Wang JieXi and smiled for all the cameras and reporters.

"And here you have it! You seen it and heard it first from the live event! This concludes our weekend event here in City B." The host had to get the last words in.

The audience response, no matter if it was live or online, was explosive. The thundering applause and roaring of cheers were deafening. 'Vaccaria Figure' became the number one search term online for the second time. Everyone started to flood into my weibo, the official forum, and Glory Co's website to check for more details on release date and time. The announcement even spread outside of China. Many oversea fans were disappointed that the figure distribution was currently planned only to regions of China and Taiwan. But there if there was a will, there was a way. The oversea fans could still pre-order via online shopping services.

Project Vaccaria was now 99% done and out of my hands. I would still received prototypes from the factor at the beginning of production and occasional go to factory checks with Lin to make sure everything was up to standards and make corrections as needed. Now was the time for me to start to work on Project Cloud Piercer from team Samsara and continuing my efforts to train and level up the White Robed Witch.

x

On the day of the preorder, important figures of Tiny Herb were invited over to Glory Co. to celebrate this joyous day. Glory Co. had projected the preorder page with a countdown onto a big screen in a large reception hall downstairs. It was a fancy event. There were little fancy catered cakes, appetizer, and champagne for the event. Everyone important was in the room.

When I entered the room, I almost coughed up blood when I saw the price listed on the website. It was the first time I had seen the price of the figure too. The price per figure was set at 1350RMB, which was roughly 207 USD. Even figures made by well-known sculptor and produced by well-known Japanese companies don't usually dare to price it so high. I wasn't putting myself down as a poor artist or sculptor by saying this figure shouldn't cost that much, but there was just no reason for the price to be that high.

"Naomi, I'm worried about the launch." Lin and Sam walked up to me when they saw me. "Weibo is exploding comments complaining about the price."

A few of the top comments read:

[Ugh my wallet hurts! …I will be eating cheap ramen for the rest of the year.]

[Money sucking company!]

[I want it so bad…but price too high T_T.]

"I know." I replied as I looked for a certain someone in the crowd.

x

Thirty minutes before the launch, I found the CEO of Glory Co. chatting happily with other important figures from Tiny Herb and Glory Co.

"Isn't the price is too high?" I asked the crowd of all-important people.

"So? People will still buy." No one in circle cared. They knew it was still going to sell anyways. So why should they? They ignored me and continued with whatever unimportant pretentious topic they were previously talking about.

These greedy businessmen were not thinking of the younger people playing who were still in school, college, or only starting to work. I had seen the numbers for cost of material and labor to produce one figure from Lin. The profit margin was already huge, but more was always better for large corporations. From the way they talked, it doesn't look like they will budge one bit on the price if it was going to lower their profit.

"I will only take 6% commission, will you lower the price then?" I demanded. This way, it won't cut into the their share of profit.

For every figure that sells, I was suppose to get a 10% artist commission fee since the illustration and design were original done by me. But what is money really? I already have enough money to live comfortable in China from my normal salary. I didn't need the little extra. Although don't tell my parents that, they might just fly out here and chew me out; they were the type of people who kept every penny they earn.

"Really? You are going to give up 4%?" That seemed to peak up interest from some of the businessmen in the circle.

"Yea. 4% is nothing."

"Very well, don't regret it." The Glory Co. CEO whispered some words to someone next to them. "If that's all, you may go now." The CEO waved me off.

Five minutes later, the price was lowered on the page. The original price was crossed off in red and a new price besides it. In the description box below, it gave me credit for giving up part of my commission fee for the new lowered price to fans.

"Look at you, taking one for the fans." Sam did his usual smack on the back.

"Fans on weibo just exploded at the lowered price. Look at the stream of comments coming in thanking you." Lin showed me the Weibo response on his phone.

I laughed at some of the overboard comments.

[Worshipping the figure goddess!]

[The goddess have heard my prayers!]

[Thank you savior of my wallet!]

[YAY! I can live on ramen for a week less now!]

The figure preorder was a success. The original plan was to only produce 500 figures and the pre-order amount sold out within minutes. The officials decided to open up for another 500 figures and it sold out again within the hour. There were still a lot of demands on Weibo to release more. The number was finally set to 1500 preorders. Even then, the supply still couldn't feed the demand of the market. To appease the fans, the company could only vaguely promise a re-releases in the future. With the preorder out of the way, the rest of the night was just to celebrate the success. This night officially marked the end of Project Vaccaria.

x

Through out the night, different people came and pulled people from the oversea team away. Later in the evening, I stood against the wall alone, people watching. I felt too dressed up in a black cocktail dress, fancy hair with too much hair spray, and make up that clogged my pores. The only thing that helped myself to still look like myself was my chunky, geeky glasses. I was blind without them and I didn't want to deal with dry contacts. I already could tell my hair and skin would be terrible for the next week from tonight's torture. Even though everyone else in the room was just as dressed up in gowns and suits, I still felt out of place.

I wondered what would happen to my training with Tiny Herb in the future. The only reason I was welcomed there and given special treatment before was because of the project. Should I go there again? I now had no official business there besides the request by the company. Words are only good for so long; they had expiration dates too. Even if someone tells you 'I love you', how long were his or her words good for? For me it was a year and half, and a ring later before they decided that a close friend was much more interesting and prettier than I.

x

For the past few weeks since Chinese New Years, I had been going there via the bus system every single day after work for an hour or two of training with Vice Captain Deng FuSheng or Captain Wang JieXi himself. Wang JieXi insisted that we try to train every single day to keep things progressing forward since my training with them was officially coming to an end at the time of the preorder. Once the preorder launched, my partnership with Tiny Herb ended because then I would only be a liability to them.

My work schedule had become less and less regular due to the upcoming release for Vaccaria's figure at the time, but Wang JieXi still made time for me no matter how short or how late. I could now run level 9 training modules without much issue, kick 70% of normal player's butt in the Arena, and land a few more hits on Wang JieXi thanks to all his efforts. However, I was still a far cry from a pro. I just hoped when the next season rolls around, I won't lose too badly on stage during the invitation matches.

Yes, I was able to use the bus system with the help of YiFan and a few others. YiFan actually got very angry with me when he found out I had been walking to and from Tiny Herb since day one. He yelled and lectured me one night until he broke down into angry tears.

After that event, YiFan and YingJie took turns – and sometimes both of them – escorting me to the bus stop. If it got too late that the bus line had stopped for the day, they would make sure I stay over in Tiny Herb for the night and see me to the bus stop in the morning. When the kids were too tired at night, sometimes Wang JieXi would walk me to the bus station.

One time Wang JieXi insisted that he would walk me to the bus stop alone because he wanted to talk privately. At that time, I still had been avoiding to talk to him about how the situation. Despite my attempts to get out of the conversation again, I had nowhere to escape. The talk could have gone as well as it could have, I suppose. Yes, it was awkward and uncomfortable for both parties, but we had come to an understanding afterwards.

Wang JieXi admitted fault for not handling the internal team situation better and recognizes that YiFan had talent. However, what the team needs doesn't match up to what YiFan could provide. They currently needed someone to fill the role of the Assassin and don't need a second Ghostblade. If YiFan couldn't provide the team with what the team needed as a whole, then they would need to find another talent who can. There were many talented young adults lined up for the chance to be promoted in Tiny Herb's training camp.

I listened to Wang JieXi's apology and explanation with a heavy heart. YiFan and I both already suspected that Tiny Herb would be letting him go at the end of the season. But this conversation just cemented the fact that Wang JieXi would not be recommending Tiny Herb to renew YiFan's contact after season 8 ends.

x

I smiled at the memories of the past few weeks as I swirled the champagne in the glass and watched the bubbles floated up to the surface. I held a glass in my hand to look like I was part of the party, but I didn't drink much from it at all. I did not enjoy the taste of the drink. The bubble liquid was so bitter and dry; I didn't know why people enjoyed this type of drink. I personally I would drink sparkling white grape juice over this any day.

The later it got into the night, the more I wanted to go home. I wasn't great at this type of social event, but I also didn't want to be the first person to leave either.

"The release was a success. What you did for the fans was admirable." Wang JieXi came to find me later the in evening. The Tiny Herb's owner, after a drink too many, had pulled him this and that way to show off all night.

"Over priced is over priced. What's a couple dollars here and there anyways?" I hummed as I continued to gaze out at people mingling on the floor.

"You are losing out on about 86,000RMB or roughly 13,000 USD."

An artist's salary from a company was lower middle-class. We usually supplement our salary with commission from big projects like a figure release. A big reason why I chose to move overseas was because my commission cut was 10%, which was considered very high. The usually was only about 5-7% anyways. I should have guessed to pay me more the company would just offset the cost to the market.

"Who asked you for the exact numbers?" I glared when he pushed on my fresh wound.

...I couldn't tell at this moment if he was a smart ass or dumb ass... It was still way too soon to bring the numbers up, dude. I sipped from my flute. The bitterness on my tongue matched the one I felt in my heart. This guy's brain must have been replaced by a computer. He really doesn't know how to chat casually or make people feel better at all.

"How's leveling?"

"Badly." I admitted. He was hitting on another sour spot, but there was no need to hide the fact.

Leveling in game was still slow. The White Robed Witch was finally level 57 after the Spring Festival event quests and a month of on and off in game leveling. It was harder for me to go to an Internet café without being recognized by Glory fans nowadays, and YiFan has become more engrossed in his own training. It was impossible for me to run a dungeon by myself, and it also was troublesome to find empty maps. Players still won't leave me alone when they find me in game. Will I be able to make it to level 70 before end of the season and keep my job? The outcome looks pretty grim right now.

"It would be in your best interest to have a good gaming PC at home."

"I have been looking. A good gaming PC is expensive. Ones YiFan and I looked all start out at 5000RMB." Sure I made enough money, but 5000RMB, roughly 800USD, for only the basic game build was still too much.

"The team and I can look into building a customized gaming PC for you. We used to do all dabble in it as a hobby and we still occasionally keep up with the new part releases. There might be some old keyboards and monitors in storage too. I will talk to the manager and owner to see if we can figure out something for you since you made them very happy tonight. For the time being, you are welcome to continue to use our computer facility at Tiny Herb."

"You sure? I mean I could be there to steal your team secret. Aren't you worried?" I smirked at the memory of our first few meetings.

"I will make sure to keep a close eye on you so you won't have a chance to." He looked in my direction with amused eyes.

Both of us smiled at the inside joke.

I peeked over at Wang JieXi after seeing that he stayed standing there after a while. He was also looking out at the people on the floor with a champagne flute in hand. He held one for the looks too. I knew that he doesn't drink because he had once said alcohol can make people's hand shaky so it's bad for pro-player. I wasn't sure if it was the lighting or alcohol in my system, but I was starting to see him differently, only just a little though.

I swear it was not because he looked dashing in a suit or handsome with his hair slightly gelled and combed back. The man had never said so many words to me before. I saw a gentler side of him that night. I recalled something YiFan told me month ago. 'Captain is a good guy, really!' he said at that time. Just a little, I'm starting to see it.

x

When it was finally an appropriate time to leave the event, I zoomed out of the event as fast as humanly possible with a quick goodbye only to Wang JieXi. I had been in heels all night. The one thing I wanted right now was to go home, and take off these torture devices off.

I checked my phone out of habit just to check for any emails or messages that I had missed for the last 6 hours. The building had terrible signal and Wi-Fi in the reception hall; I wasn't surprised to see that I had two unread QQ messages from few hours ago.

[Sis, I got in touch with God Ye Qiu and gave him your information. He should be in contact with you shortly.] A message from YiFan read.

Then there was a friend request from someone named Lord Grim (君莫笑) along with this message: [Hi XiaoBaiBai. (小白白).]

There was only one man in the whole history of Glory who called me by that irritating nickname. I felt my eye twitch at the nickname he so kindly bestowed on me so many years ago when he still played One Autumn Leaf on the 1st server. Yup, just from the one line I could tell this was the guy I was looking for.

[Mister Glory Textbook.] I responded with the nickname I gave him.

[Glory Textbook is just fine. Don't need the Mister. :)] Ye Qiu shameless replied.

* * *

A/N: All RMB to USD exchange rate in story will be 1USD to 6.5RMB.

Apologies for a not so great chapter. Dealing with a head cold on and off and other things offline. Having a hard time thinking/editing. Might only update once this coming week. Sorry in advance.

To guest: Thank you for the insight to their relationship. I think Naomi and Wang Jiexi's relationship started out as work obligation. But now their work relationship is coming to an end, will their relationship stay? I have actually have no idea xD;


	21. Hello, Goodbye

Talking to Ye Xiu was almost like traveling back in time. The way we chatted online was no different than 10 years ago. With his hand speed, he could still chat with me and play Glory at the same time without any problem; a talent that I had always been jealous of. He was also still the same shameless, laid back guy who loved Glory.

[What's up with your name nowadays? I thought it was Ye Xiu, but why does YiFan call you Ye Qiu.]

[There is a story behind it.]

[Going to tell me?]

[Nope. Maybe one day. :)] I swore he and his smiley faces rub me the wrong way.

[Should I call you Ye Xiu or Ye Qiu then?]

[Ye Xiu is fine.]

After we figured out his name situation, we chatted about the old times, work, All-Star Weekend, my training with Tiny Herb, and Glory in general. If I could play Glory right now, I'm sure he and I would have been in the Arena 'comparing notes', or more accurately him beating me up completely. I never once had come close to beating in on PvP since we met.

[Is Su Ge (苏哥) with you still?]

[No.]

Sadly, I found out Su Ge had passed away shortly after I quit and lost touch with everyone from the first server. I cried when I found out the news. I partied with the two often for dungeon runs back in the days when everyone else labeled me a hacker.

x

Su MuQiu (苏沐秋) was such a optimistic, cheerful guy. Unlike Ye Xiu, he was good with words and easy to talk to. He gave support to people when they needed. I still remembered that I used to log in sometimes just to talk to him when things got stressful offline – things like school, parents, grades, and moving to a different country. The universe was so unfair. Why don't nice guys ever get happy endings?

[I'm sorry to bringing it up. I didn't know.] I felt bad for unknowingly bringing up the topic. It must be hard for Ye Xiu even now since they were really close back in the days.

[I'm fine, but what about you? You must be hurting.]

[Let me cry for a bit, then I will be okay.]

Ye Xiu and I shared a moment of silence before moving on to other topics.

[If you get fired from the company, want to join my team?] Ye Xiu asked. The thing with Internet chats was, you can't see if the other side was serious or not. But I also had a feeling that Ye Xiu was someone hard to read in real life too.

[The White Robed Witch can't join any team. I signed that contract years ago. You can't afford me anyways.]

[You want sponsor my team then? The preorder went well I heard J.] He was now holding out his hand asking for money? It seemed like he had become the god of the shameless over the years too. From what I heard from YiFan, Ye Xiu has been like that since they met online.

[If you followed the preorder site, you would have seen I had given up a portion of my commission fee. I won't be getting that much back.]

[What a waste of money.]

[Don't remind me. Wang JieXi already told me the exact numbers.]

[Haha. Big-Eye Wang is always so tactless.]

I rolled my eyes at the message. It wasn't like the guy I was talking to was any better. I was starting to think it runs in the sport. I hope YiFan won't become like either of the two if he stayed in the pro scene.

[Why do you need money? Are you in some kind of trouble?]

[I'm starting my own team.]

[What are you offering in return?] I still couldn't tell if he was joking or being serious.]

[You can decide on the team name. Oh wait, my boss is giving me a look. No go on that offer.]

I wasn't sure what to say so I just sent back a sweat drop emoji.

[I will consider but I want to see something formal in writing about your team before I will give you a cent.] If he really needed some financial help, I am not against the idea. But he was stating something as outlandish as building his own Glory team. I was a bit doubtful. I just wanted to make sure he wasn't toying with me and wasn't actually going to use my money on street drugs or alcohol.

x

After chatting with Ye Xiu until the sun came up, we finally said our goodbyes for the night. Even though the man had his own agenda when he messaged me, he still told me a few areas that were unpopular with players that I could level up peacefully at.

He also told me to hurry up and get a PC, and into the Heavenly Domain so we can 'play like old times'. I knew better than to believe what he says on the surface. He probably planned to use me for free labor to hunt for rare materials or something when I there, but that didn't sound bad at all. At least it will be time spend with an old friend.

He also told me that YiFan had got into Heaven's Domain at level 55 just a few days ago. I had never seen YiFan's Ghostblade, One Inch Ash, so I was looking towards seeing and playing with his main character. I quickly copy and pasted the maps he suggested in a document before going to bed. Thank goodness I have today off or I would have called in sick anyways.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't curious to see Ye Xiu unspecialized character, his unique weapon, and his play style. The man had never fail to surprise me with game mechanics that I never knew was possible. Even for me, who wasn't very informed with the in game situation, knew that Lord Grim was famous not only in the 10th server, but in all the servers. Just two or three weeks ago, it was huge news on every eSport channel that all the famous Glory characters logged on to see Lord Grim in action in the Arena.

I personally didn't find and read that piece of news. But when you work for the gaming company, you hear just hear these things everywhere. From the rumors floating around the work cafeteria, it seemed like Ye Xiu was planning to come back to the pro scene.

x

A week after the preorder event, I still visited Tiny Herb for my daily dose of training with Wang JieXi. The computer was in progress, but not ready yet. With Project Vaccaria preorder done, my schedule was more normalized. I was able to work on my projects in the normal 9-5 hours. Afterwards, I would take a bus to Tiny Herb to train for an hour or two and leave after dinner Monday through Thursday. Weekends were more troublesome because sometimes the team was away for a competition.

On those days, I just rent out a private room at an Internet Café to do some serious grind to level up, or attempt the Heavenly Domain chain quests, or go to the Arena to beat up random people after I get bored. I dressed like a slob in sweats on those days to blend in the café. It seemed to work since the café manager never spared me a second look anytime I went. But just for extra privacy, I paid good money for a VIP computer room every time.

As for the Heavenly Domain quests. Let me tell you, the chain quests were not just long. They were really, really long…like almost never ending long. They were hard as hell too. After tackling the quests for almost a month and now at level 62, I was still not done with the chain quest or the Arena portion of the quest because of the 8 level of suppression.

Leveling had been better and faster after talking to Ye Xiu. I ran into less and less players online at the maps that he had recommended. The spawn rate was a little slow, but it was still better than being bombarded and followed by a bunch of people all the time, and getting absolutely nowhere.

I have to admit the skill portion of chain quests was still a bit difficult for me. I was definitely doing better after starting the training simulations at Tiny Herb, but my technical skills was nowhere to being pro. So with some skill and lots of luck, I was able to completely them one by one. YiFan had offered to help multiple times, but I decided that I should use these quests as extra training instead of treating them like a burden.

For the Arena portion, there was no shortage of people across the servers who wanted to challenge the White Robed Witch. I didn't mind since I needed wins streaks to complete the quests. But with the level suppression and my current skills, it was not a piece of cake. There were definitely some strong players in the masses that made me broke the win streaks that I needed for the Heaven Domain Arena quests. As I currently stand, I was no different than the above average normal players. I still had a long way to go.

Sometimes Ye Xiu or Old Man Han, on random accounts, would watch from the sidelines and give me pointers afterwards via QQ when they had a moment to spare. Both of them did not challenge me in the Arena because they knew there was no benefit for me to win against them due to the level difference. If the field were set to fixed field, it would not count towards quest. And if they fought serious, they would beat me to a pulp no problem and mess up my winning streak for the Arena quests for sure.

x

Another week later, a few boxes arrived in the mail for me at the apartment front desk. The boxes contained different computer pieces, hardware, PC accessories, and a gamer's chair; everything was a courtesy of Tiny Herb. Since the preorder made the Tiny Herb owner richer, this was the least that the Owner could do for me after he found out I was in need of a gaming PC. Considering how much money I gave up with 4% commission for the pre-order, the owner still made out like a bandit even after giving me the free computer stuff.

Tiny Herb also sent YiFan, and YingJie one Sunday to put together and set up my new fancy-dancy gaming PC computer. Per everyone from the Tiny Herb team, in the world of people who loved computers and games, naming your computer was a must. Naomi's Computer would simply not do.

From the day Wang JieXi said he would talk to his boss about the computer, everyone from Tiny Herb wanted to know what I was going to name my computer. After picking out a sleek glossy white aluminum case with black accents, I decided on Eve from the movie Wall-E. Another reason was due to she was my first gaming computer ever. Eve was the first woman created by god per western religion, and this is my first computer. Get it?

x

When the boys arrived early Sunday, they went to set everything up like expert IT guys. The computer was quickly set up and working within half an hour, but the chair was a complete different story. I chuckled as I watched the two teens tried to decide how assemble the chair. They were computer guys, not handymen. As they were figuring things out, I decided to order pizzas for everyone. It was getting close to lunch and treat people for a meal for manual labor was just common curtsey.

Pizza was a delicacy in China. In America there was many 5 dollar (~30-40RMB) for a large options everywhere. In China a 'large' pizza was closer to 60 to 80 RMB and the size of a large pizza was significant smaller than in the states. To make up for the large price difference, there were many interesting choices that I have never seen before. In the end I ordered 2 pizzas – a seafood supreme pizza and a plain cheese pizza – and a 2-liter soda for delivery.

By the time the food arrived and tablet set, the teens still had made no process. The two argued over the poorly written direction. Do you put parts A & B together first? Then how does part C fit into A & B? That was one of the mysteries in life.

During lunch, I put in a blu-ray movie on the TV. But no one was really watching, so it was just for background noise. I took a peak at the directions when they boys ate lunch. I couldn't read all the Chinese characters but just by looking at the step-by-step images, it seemed fairly straightforward. I smiled inwardly at how both boys seemed to lack common sense. After lunch, I continued to watch the boys from the sidelines – very amused – and made no movements to help out.

x

About 2 or 3 in the afternoons, I received a message from Wang JieXi. He was wondering where his two members were since they had been gone for a more than a few hours now. I quickly let the captain know the boys were just finishing up and will be back soon.

"Hey guys. Your captain needs you back soon." I interrupted YiFan and YingJie who both kneeled clueless in front of the pile of chair parts, the unhelpful directions, and a crappy one-time use screwdriver that came in the box.

"But, we haven't put it together yet." YingJie spoke up first.

"Sorry, we couldn't get anywhere with it." YiFan sighed in defeated as he tried to make the heads and tails of the directions.

"It's fine. I had a good show."

"?" The boys stared at me in pure confusion.

"Don't worry about it." I laughed from my place on the couch and waved the two off. "Head back soon before your Captain decide to come over personally to get you guys."

After I made sure the two were on the next bus back to Tiny Herb, I messaged Wang JieXi to let him know YingJie and YiFan were on their way now so he could stop worrying. I'm sure Wang JieXi only really cared about YingJie's whereabouts since he was Vaccaria's successor. I swore that I would somehow make Wang JieXi notice YiFan and regret his decision one day.

I watched the bus disappear down the road and around the corner. I carried a bittersweet feeling in my heart. This would mark the last interactions I would have Tiny Herb. The computer was now set up in my apartment. I now had absolutely no reason to go to Tiny Herb ever again.

x

I opened the door to my silent apartment. It seem a big quieter, bigger, and lonelier than before. I missed the two boys' presences already. In the last 4 months or so, I had spent majority of time in and out of Tiny Herb and hanging out with the people there. Being alone and not able to go there anymore made me a lonely. I sank into the couch and stared at the TV screen played the credits to the movie that had been long nice forgotten. I looked around my bare single bedroom apartment. Besides what the apartment came with and I had brought over from the move, I had not bought anything new to fill up the place.

The apartment was newly refurnished and move-in ready for me. It came with a full kitchen, washer-dryer combo machine in the bathroom, and all the furniture currently in the apartment. This included, not limited to, the foldout couch, the coffee table, the TV stand, the TV, and the computer table. Sure they weren't anything too fancy, but they weren't so poor quality that they would fall apart when I shut the front door either. The only things extra I brought with me were a foldable workshop table, a foldable chair, and whatever is in the boxes.

Most of my life was still in boxes. After the initial attempt to unpack my life in the first week here, I have been living out of boxes since then. Only clothing items, bedroom essentials, bathroom essentials, and art supplies were fully unpacked. Books, movies, and my prized figures boxes were all stacked neatly in the corner of an apartment from heaviest on the bottom and lightest on the top. The packing tape had been all cut opened from when I checked to make sure everything arrived in good shape and when I needed to dig something out occasionally. I should really start putting things onto the shelves that were collecting dust, but I just couldn't find the motivation today or any other day.

Everything in the kitchen probably was covered in a layer of dust after so many months. I told myself that I would buy fresh produce and eat healthier in China, but that had not happened yet. Eating out was just so cheaper and much more convenient. There was a pork bun vendor right outside of the apartment and 7-11 close by. The tealeaf eggs (茶叶蛋) from 7-11 were so addicting! It was so easy just to grab something quick on the way home and not worry about it.

With a last look around my quiet apartment, I decided I have to get the chair put together before the clumsy me would trip over it and die with out anyone knowing. Following the step-by-step pictures, I put the chair that had stumped YingJie and YiFan together in about 30 minutes. It was only slightly more complex than a regular office chair, but wasn't all that much different either. With the last wheel on the chair twisted into place, I pulled it up into an upright position.

Without nothing much to do, I opened up Glory on the new computer that had been downloading for the last few hours in the background. Sitting in the most comfortable chair in the world in the comfort of my home, I familiarized myself with my brand new gaming engine. Consider that I would spending a lot of time in this chair in the next couple month, I was glad that Tiny Herb was kind enough to send over one of the better ones on the market.

* * *

To Crystal: Thank you for your kind review. Really appreciate it. I agree with your analysis with Naomi and WJX. I def see them drifting somewhat in the near future. Although, in my honest opinion all the pro-players and Naomi are all love-idiots/clueless to love. ┐(´д｀)┌ Who knows if their spring will ever come.

To Guest: Yes it will be another god-tier character. I believe Naomi meets ZZK again and the next figure will be decided in the next chapter =)


	22. Life in April

Overall the month of April was not bad. Besides not really having much of a life, everything else was going well. It was pretty much working and playing Glory after work all month long for me. With the new computer at the apartment and Ye Xiu's leveling guide, I was able to level up much faster than before. I was almost level 70 in game by end of the mouth. When I hit one of the old level caps, the pieces of the special set equipment automatically leveled up with the character. The equipment looked exactly the same as before but they the stats on the gears all improved by a random amount.

Also, I finally could see the end of the Heavenly Domain quests; the light at the end of the tunnel! Slowly, I had finally gathered enough wins in the Arena for that portion of quests. After a rocky start and help from Ye Xiu and Old Man Han, I started improving. I could see through popular class combos that people liked to chain from online guides. It also helped that I worked for the company and was currently working on a top-secret update project coming later in the year so I was familiar with all the attack animations. To a degree, I could predict the opponent's next attack, but this still didn't mean 100% victory. Knowing and being able to act were two completely different things. My reaction was still fairly average for a player, but did improve with more PvP.

The other Heavenly Domain chain quests also had to be done alone. Those quests were tests of technical skills. It was a struggle, but instead of getting frustrating over them and getting YiFan to help me with it. I looked at them like they were another training module and took my time with them. It took me a while to do on my own, but I was finally on the final quest. I had attempted the last quest multiple times, but I unfortunately didn't have enough endurance to win against the shameless self-healing boss. Seriously, who designed a hateful boss that would self-heal the moment you take your eyes off him! Ugh, he that boss was so unfair!

Oh right, taking a page from Kazumi's page, I became somewhat of a troll on Weibo. At first, I wasn't sure how to update my Weibo page that I was required to maintain per the company. I was even terrible at updating and posting to my personal Facebook. So I just decided to put anything I found interesting or funny from work, Glory, and real life. I posted silly in game screen shots of White Robed Witch being chased mobs of high level monsters, level updates, personal figure purchases, Glory figure and other Glory related things from work that I was given permission to share.

x

In the beginning of the month, I had a business trip to City S to meet with Team Samsara again for Project Cloud Piercer. It was at that time that Samsara gave me the official go ahead with the original pose that I suggested during All-Star weekend. As Samsara's owner put it, "The more I thought about it, the more I liked the pose."

"…Okay." was the only input Zhou ZeKai gave me when I asked for his opinion.

During the weeklong trip in City S, I was there with YueHua. Lin very much wanted to come and fan boy over Zhou ZeKai like a teenage girl, but he couldn't get out of some family obligations for that week. There was something about a visit to the in-laws that had been pushed off for long. Thus, the translator substitute, YueHua, had to come with me instead. But like usual, Lin asked me to get him a signature.

Coming to City S wasn't an issue for YueHua at all since she was a big fan of Zhou ZeKai too, maybe even a bigger one than Lin. YueHua was absolutely astonished, and a bit offended, that I never noticed his face all over TV, magazines, McD's, and products on the shelves of grocery stores. Anyone with eyes would notice that guy's face was plastered on a lot of different things all around the city. I, however, didn't really notice them since I don't really care for celebrities, and I lived most of my life under a rock since I have been in China. My life have been pretty much work, home, Tiny Herb, and Glory in the previous months.

"How can you not notice him! Look how handsome my ZeZe look in pictures!" YueHua cried like a rabid fan girl and started showing me the thousands of photographs saved on to her phone when she found out I had no opinion of Zhou ZeKai.

x

For the whole time I was there, I was told to follow Zhou ZeKai around like shadows to get a good grasp on his character for face ideas. YueHua was of course there as the translator. The trip was like a trip to paradise for YueHua. To be able to follow Zhou ZeKai around all day long and to backstage, how many fans in the country only could dream about the chance to do the same? But things were a bit troublesome for me due to YueHua's behaviors. Every time Zhou ZeKai looked in our general direction, smiled, or said a word, YueHua would become a blushing fool and swoon at his feet.

I sighed. I didn't see why this guy was a chick magnet at all. Besides having some good looks, there was no other good quality that I could see. You couldn't hold a conversation with this guy even for half a minute. I know because I tried to gauge his interest better to see if it could be something to add into the figure design. I tried to ask him for his favorite color for possible base color and some other questions. All he ever says was "Good" or "Not bad". By the end of our 'talk', if you can even call it that, I felt drained of all my energy.

After watching him going to his modeling sessions, commercial shoots, and tournament battles, I concluded that this silent young man liked to be extremely flashy, like his gameplay style, and a bit vain. He seemed like to spend most of his breaks throughout the day posting and looking at the fan comments on his Weibo.

A few times during my days in City S, he came to find me during breaks between his breaks. At first, we wouldn't talk since he would play around on his phone as usual while I worked on Cloud Piercer's sketch. He seemed to taken some interest in the project at least. I caught him glancing curiously over to my paper a few times like a shy puppy. Yes, he reminded me of a puppy. I had to resist the urge to pet him on the head like one. Looking at him reminded me of my own small dogs with big, watery, curious eyes in the States.

 _Maybe that's why he was popular with girls_ , I finally figured it out!

"You can look if you like. It is not a giant secret anything since it is your character after all. Just don't post it to your Weibo or any other social media. That would be breaching some kind of contract." I said after I caught him like a doe in headlights, and he became somewhat fluttered.

 _So popular but still so socially awkward with real life interactions_ , I observed. I make an effort to scoot the chair a little closer to him and made my work more visible to him.

"Okay." He smiled innocently that made YueHua sigh and almost faint in the background. He moved his chair closer to me too and put away his phone.

x

For the rest of my trip, he would occasionally come to watch his character come to life under my pencil tip in the break room or backstage room. At some point in time during one of these breaks, he took a selfie with an unaware me with ear buds on, dorky big glasses, and my hair up in a high messy bun working in the background. He posted onto his Weibo with the captions 'Cloud Piercer figure in progress!'. I was a bit mad that he took a very unfaltering picture of me, but I was grateful that he remembered to not disclose anything on my drawing pad.

I was sure he was trying to advertise the product through his online influence, but that's not what the rest of the female population concentrated on. There was girl, other than themselves, in the picture with their favorite male idol! Their Husbando! Unforgivable! To make things worse, it seemed like Zhou ZeKai started to follow my Weibo page too. The Internet exploded from jealous girls. I found this out thanks to YueHua who noticed the moment the post went up. She showed me the many nasty comments and private message (PM) on my Weibo. Ugly Pig. Old hag. Get some plastic surgery.

 _Jeez couldn't these people get more creative than that?_ I looked at the comments unimpressed.

There were a few death threats that won't be follow through. Overall, I wasn't too bothered by the immature Internet reaction. I asked YueHua to see if there was an option to turn off PM functions in the privacy setting and there was. Problem solved.

On the last day of my stay in City S, I had the pencil sketch finished, started the digital sketch, and the color palette picked out. I confirmed the designs for Cloud Piercer with Samsara's owner and Zhou ZeKai one last time just in case they wanted to make some last minute changes. For any future issues, everything would just be taken care off through emails and conference calls with Lin. Before leaving, I just had to troll with all of Zhou ZeKai's fan girls. I asked the Zhou ZeKai and Samsara's boss if we could take a selfie together with YueHua and I so I could post it to my Weibo to mark the end of my visit to Samsara. A second time that week, Zhou ZeKai's fan base was up in arms again. I didn't really care at all. I think even secretly enjoyed that.

x

The top eight teams were set by end of April, at this point no win or loss from the teams would change their spot. The whole company was busy throughout in preparation for the final matches of the season 8. Along with Project Vaccaria's prototype quality checks, I was tackling designing promotional materials for the upcoming playoff in May like no one's business. Maybe it was because I was becoming more immersive with Glory, ideas came easily to me.

Project Vaccaria prototype was in its final stages. There were a few small casting and color correction issues from the factory side, but they were easy to fix. Once the corrections were made, Project Vaccaria would finally be mass produced. The expected start shipping date was end of November; there were plenty of time.

I made 9 different posters in total between mid-April to early May. Eight of the posters were kind of generic in my opinion; so they were easy to get out of the way. It was a promotional poster for each team. Once the to 8 teams were determined one by one, Glory Co. had reached out to each of the playoff team to send in pictures of their team captain, vice-captain, and their characters in front of green screens.

The longest process was selecting the photos to be used. There were massive meetings with other people from other departments to dig through the massive amount of photos from all the photo-shoots and pick out the ones we thought were the best. There were many females employees in the meetings that drooled over their favorite players and got off track many times. Once the final images were selected, all I had to do was copy and paste the images together, put the respective characters behind the players, add in a textured looking backdrop that was associated with the team color, and of course put the giant glory logo in front to make it official. Bam, those team posters were ready to be reviewed by the promotion and marketing department and mass-produced for the event.

The 9th poster required more image-rendering than the previous eight and couldn't be started until the team placements were determined. The company wanted a comprehensive poster that had all the characters together. I had the perfect idea but needed another department to find me the right character images to work with. The end product was characters from 4 teams on each side of the poster running towards the centerline where the obvious golden glory logo was in the background. Because all the character had neutral facial expression in game, I had to go in and carefully draw in individual expression for each of the 16 characters in this poster.

A hidden detail that will probably be lost to the audience was the placement of the characters was not random. I placed the characters based on the playoff match up. So one side had Blue Rain's next to 301 Degrees, Tyranny next to Misty Rain. On the other side had Samsara next to Thunderclap, and Tiny next to Void.

I shared a work in process (WIP) screen shot of the 9th poster to my Weibo when I was working on the project. For the WIP post, I had all 16 character's face all blanked out with a nude color and drew in silly cartoon derpy or silly expression.

My most received Weibo posts seemed to be ones I draw random anime expressions on my WIPs. People especially loved the one of a sketch of Project Cloud Piercer with a derp face. But hardcore Samsara and Zhou ZeKai fans gave me a hard time. There will always be haters I suppose. The haters were appeased once the official art concept for the figure was completely and posted. Those fans then 'ohhh' and 'ahhh' over their adored idol.

x

However, April wasn't a good month for everyone. One of them was Old Man Han. He had come to Glory Co. for a business trip with their vice captain (who had the expression of a robot), Tyranny's owner, and manager at the end of April. They were here to talk about a possible figure from Tyranny next in line. I am not sure how it was decided that which team or character would be selected. They had excluded me from that part of the conversation, but my tingling senses told me it was about how much money the teams were putting on the table for the project.

During the meeting with Tyranny, I couldn't help but notice that Han WenQing seemed absentminded the whole time. He ignored my initial greeting in the hallway when I bumped into Tyranny group on my way to the meeting. I'm sure this meeting was boring to death to me as to him, but it seemed like his heart seemed to be elsewhere completely (心不在焉). Old Man Han had his signature frown on his face, but if I squint my eyes really small there seem to be a hint of fatigue and sadness mixed in there too.

[Hey. If you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here.] I QQed him after the meeting was adjourned. His bosses were constantly with by his side. I couldn't find a chance to speak to him alone.

x

[Do you have time to PK in the Arena?] A QQ message came across later that night when I was eating instant ramen at home while grinding in an isolate area.

[Sure.]

I quickly went to the nearby city that had an Arena portal. I didn't care about all the players who were posting spotting me in the world channel and those who followed me to get my attention. With help from YiFan and Tiny Herb training, I had long learned how to run most efficiently. In combination with Elementalist's teleport skill, I left all the players in my dust. When I reached the Arena, I quickly entered the private room Old Man Han had set up for us.

"I'm surprised you are using your main account." I said via the gaming mic. If I wasn't so busy concentrating on avoiding the mob of people behind me, I probably would have noticed that someone people posted on TV that they had spotted Desert Dust in game a few minutes ago too.

"I'm serious about this fight." He said with a tone that didn't suit him. He sounded tired.

From the years I knew the man online, he had always been always been proud, full of confidence, and a go-getter. I knew something serious must have happened on his side and today was not a good day to joke around too much. He probably would get really mad at me if I fooled around too much.

"Want to talk about with your fists?" I also knew well enough that Han WenQing wasn't a big talker, especially about personal things that affected him.

Pressing the ready button was Old Man Han's only response.

Fighting Desert Dust was a very different than fighting Wang JieXi. First, Wang JieXi never fought me with his main, Vaccaria. He always used an unknown witch account for a lot of different reasons; one to hide Vaccaria's equipment, capabilities, and to go easy on me. With silver equipment, he would kick my butt probably 10 times faster. Second, Wang JieXi's magician play style was unpredictable. Han WeiQing's approach was far more direct in comparison. I also have known and played Glory with Old Man Han for a period of time, so I was familiar with his play style and in-game habits, like some of his favorite attack combos for example. Don't get me wrong, this doesn't mean I had a chance to win in this all out battle. It only meant that I wouldn't lose as bad. I had an easier time landing hits on his character because I was able to predict his attack patterns, movements, and see more openings.

x

1 minute and 48 seconds. That's how long how Desert Dust took to defeat the White Robed Witch. I was really surprised that I last so long in the battle. I knew I had improved somewhat over the past month. I was probably even better than how I was before I quit in my younger days. But I knew I still definitely not good enough to drag out the match to that extent with a pro-player. Old Man Han shouldn't have gone on easy on me either if he said he was going to be serious.

Old man…my train of thought stopped right now. I thought about Old Man Han WenQing's age. He was like what, 26 or 27 now? That age was high for a pro-player. He might even be the oldest pro player in the Alliance right now. I lasted this long in battle with him wasn't because I obtained godly skills over the last month; it was because his condition was declining. His hand speed was probably no longer what it was during his prime. His battle style and habits already studied thoroughly by his rivals. He was undoubtedly aging like the rest of the population.

After the first match, Captain Han didn't ready his character again. I felt bad about calling him Old Man Han now. I had given him that name and called him that out of a place of amity. I never once meant it in a way to hurt his feeling, or make him feel bad about his age.

"You want to go again?" I asked once I revived in the room.

"What's the point?" He asked defeated over the in-game voice chat.

"What do you mean?"

"It even took me over a minute and half to defeat you. I-"

"Hey!" I cut Han WenQing off right there. I knew what he probably wanted to say, but I wasn't going to let him keep going down that dark road. "I take great offense to that! Just to let you know, I have been working very hard since January. You take that back. I would slap you right now if you were closer!"

"Sorry." He sighed. The fire within him was dimming, I could tell that much from the sound of his voice. He wasn't thinking about retiring after this season, was he?

"Don't say you are sorry. Improve! Climb your way up again. You still want to fight, don't you?"

"Of course, but it's not that easy, Brat. I'm not young anymore. My hand speed can't keep up anymore. I can't just magically reverse time." I heard a thud over the headphone. Han WenQing must have slammed his fist on the table.

"Hand speed isn't everything you know. I heard Blue Rain captain's hand speed is slow and he is still top-tier. Maybe you can change your play style to fit your current hand speed."

"You talk about changing play style like change of outfit." He scoffed at my suggestion.

"I didn't say to change over night!" I was getting heated up at this point too.

"I don't know why I'm talking to you, someone who don't know anything about the pro-scene, about this anyways. What was I thinking?" He shot back.

"Oh." I fell silent. I knew he probably said that because he was hurting from his internal turmoil. Sure, I also knew that I wasn't a Glory expert to much help. Regardless, what he said stun like pouring lemon juice on an open wound. I saw a friend who seemed to need cheering up, but I might have stuck my nose into his private business instead.

"You know I am only trying to help because I thought we were friends." My voice cracked even though I tried my hardest to sound normal over voice chat. I quickly directed White Robe Witch outside of the Arena room and logged off.

Were we friends? Maybe he only saw me as an annoying kid who always wanted to tag along with him, a stronger character, in game. Maybe he had only humored over the years? Maybe I was only a burden from the beginning? Maybe we were never friends? Tears pooled in my eyes and dripped down my face at the thoughts. We were never friends. We knew nothing about each other's life. I hugged my legs to my chest in the chair and sobbed into my knees. For the first time moving City B, China, I felt so alone and friendless in this city.

* * *

A/N: After spending days rereading the light novel while sick, I found a fatal flaw previously written in this chapter and next chapter. Currently busy fixing/patching up the error.

I'm sorry to anyone who shipped the two, but the plot called for it.


	23. Idiots

A/N: Not the greatest chapter written, but hope you guys enjoy anyways! (Sorry they can't be all winners)

* * *

Even though what Han WenQing said broke my heart, I decided if he messaged me an apology right away, I would forgive him. That night, I didn't get much sleep. I checked my phone over and over again until the battery was drained. Han WenQing never messaged me.

[Why are you still up? Don't you work tomorrow?] Ye Xiu messaged me at one point late into the night to remind me to sleep.

I check my QQ day after day, but our chat stayed quiet. Little by little, I had to accept that our 10-year friendship might have ended.

By Friday night, I was relieved that it was finally the weekend. Somehow, I made it through work without much issue. But still, overall this week had been taxing on my mind. Rest and sleep sounded superb at the moment. Before going to bed, hoping against all hope, I checked my chat with Han WenQing one more time.

…But, there was nothing.

Feeling a big gloomy, I send a message to Ye Xiu before going to bed.

x

The buzzing of my phone vibration in the morning woke me up when I received a new message. The message was a reply from Ye Xiu. After feeling sorry for myself last night, I asked Ye Xiu if we were friends. His response was now in QQ for me to read. I debated if I wanted to read it or not. What if he said no? If he said no, then everything I knew from Glory was a big lie. A delusion I had lived for ten years; I wasn't sure if I could handle it.

In the end, I decided that his response would bother me until I read it. Short-term pain would be better than long torment (长痛不如短痛).

[Of course we are. What else would we be?] Was Ye Xiu's reply. I felt some of tightness relieve from my chest.

[You don't think we are strangers?]

[We known each other since the beginning of Glory, how can we be strangers? What's gotten into you?]

[Nothing.] I lied, although I'm sure Ye Xiu had a good idea what happened even without me saying anything. Besides Ye Xiu and Han WenQing, I didn't really have any other "old friends" from Glory.

[Good then. Get your butt into Domain Heaven soon. I could use all the extra help I can there. What's the hold up?]

[Slave driver.] I typed, but smiled at our chat. I'm glad he didn't say or ask about what was going on. For once, I was glad he was being a bit more tactful than usual.

I had a more pleasant time chatting with Ye Xiu after I found some relief that he thought of us as friends at least. While talking, I remembered that this man had completed the Heavenly Domain quests at level 50. He would know who to defeat the last boss!

However, when I asked him about it, he gave me a really unhelpful tip. His answer was to "bring lots of HP and MP pots." I felt the urge to slam my head into my keyboard when I saw his answer. He wasn't wrong or anything, but it was just too simple. I just expected something more amazing or miraculous.

x

Before I attempted the Heaven Domain quest again on this lovely raining Saturday, Ye Xiu offered to take a look at my current equipment and skill distribution if I send over screenshots. It wasn't a big deal to share those things with him. I trusted him not to share it with anyone else without asking.

[Why are you still using level 50 purple accessories? Why are your equipment skill slots not fully filled? Why are your skill points mostly not disturbed?] Why this, why that. The constant criticisms from the other side made me want to cry. But I was also happy to get tips from someone like him. How many people can be graced by the advice of this Glory God.

The special event set didn't include all 13 equip-able items available for a Glory character. All of White Robed Witch's accessories, including but not limited to pendant, rings, etc., were still regular level 50 purple equipment. It wasn't that I had forgotten or wasn't planning to upgrade her regular equipment. It was just that going to marketplace was a hassle. People kept on trying to ask me things regarding Glory that I didn't know or couldn't share. But under Ye Xiu's strong recommendation, I spend most of my day crawling from one stall to another.

x

Just as Ye Xiu had said, because the 1st server was the oldest and most established server, the market was stable and cheap for a lot of things. Even the price on some of the level 65 orange mage equipment I saw weren't too expensive compared to the level 50 orange equipment when the game just started back in the day. But I was looking for accessories, not main pieces, so prices were a bit higher. Unfortunately for me, most accessory equipment could be equipped by all classes, thus making them super popular and expensive in game.

There were a few rare level 70 necklaces or badges in the market with decent stats, but their price were set to the maximum allowed in game. This was a common way for the player to show off their equipment. But who knows, maybe they would meet an insanely rich character that would actually buy out their precious orange equipment listing. There were definitely many whales(1) in the game. I, like the majority of the Glory population, could not afford any of the level 70 orange accessories, so I ended up settling with a few level 65 orange and level 70 purple pieces.

After making all the equipment and skill adjustment according to Ye Xiu's suggestions, the stats on White Robed Witch improved all around, with her damage output and cast speed increased the most. With a lot of deliberating, the five skill slots were finally filled: Tyrant's Destruction, Dragon Rises from the Sea, Dragon Breaks the Rank, Furious Dragon Strikes the Heart, and Rising Dragon Soars the Sky.

Since the White Robed Witch was one of a kind character, there was no online guide that I could follow to distribute the skill points I had been saving up since level 50. Ye Xiu just suggested that I put the points towards skills that I would use well and can combo easily with other moves. He suggested a few moves that he theorized would be able to chain together nicely. But how well the combos could be executed was completely up to my own skills. Thus, more than half of White Robed Witch's skills were leveled according to Ye Xiu's recommendations and my own preferences since she was not a traditional Battle Mage or a traditional Elementalist.

After equipping new gears and distributing a portion of my current skill points, White Robed Witch had become a completely different character. Ye Xiu and I agreed to save some of the precious skill points for now and distribute them as I get a better feel for the new skills. My character was no longer the almost level 70 Elementalist/Battle Mage hybrid that could only use level 50 and lower skills. I used the rest of my lazy Saturday getting used to her new capabilities in preparation for the last Heavenly Domain quest. I was very determined to pass it and join Ye Xiu and YiFan there tonight.

…Yes, I had been using level 50 equipment and skills for leveling and completing the Heavenly Domain quests. In hindsight, I probably should have consulted Ye Xiu earlier on. Maybe then I would have an easier time finishing the arena portion of the quest.

x

After eating a bowl of instant ramen for dinner, I put on an eSport channel that was scheduled to broadcast tonight's Glory battle between Tyranny and one of the mid-tier teams. I had the TV on mostly for background noise and give me motivation for my long battle with the final boss between the Heavenly Domain and I. Making sure I was stocked up with potion to the brim, I headed out to the place the boss awaited me.

Even with an upgraded White Robed Witch, it still took me almost an hour and almost all my potions to take down the shameless self-healing boss. The moment you look away or take a break because your hand was cramp up, the boss would start healing and destroy my progress. But I didn't care now. I had finally done it! At last, I have received the qualifications to enter Heaven Domain. Sure it took me almost three month to do, but I felt accomplished that I was able to do it with my two hands.

By the time I killed the boss, my eyes were super tired and dry from staring intensely at the computer screen for too long. Deciding YiFan wouldn't even be online to meet up with me in the Heavenly Domain tonight due to his team match, I logged off without entering Heavenly Domain. I admit that was being vain, but I really wanted YiFan to see my name on TV when I arrive there and congratulate me.

I flopped down on my couch with some late night snacks in hand. I caught the tail end of the match between Tyranny and Wind Howl. The commenters were talking about how Han WenQing seemed to be extra aggressive and careless in battle tonight. His synergy with the rest of the team seemed off. In the end, Tyranny lost due to Desert Dust pulling too far away from the rest of the team – a rookie mistake. But, this match didn't matter too much since the top 4 team positions have already been locked into place; no win or loss could make too much difference now.

After I watched the interviews of the teams and the after match analysis, I wondered if Han WenQing was okay. I though about spending a message to check up on him, but my pride stopped me. He didn't care to message and apologize to me first, why should I ask him how he was? I realize I was being childish, but I didn't want to back down when he was clearly the one at fault.

x

I had already washed up and dressed in PJs around 11pm when an unknown number called my phone. I rolled onto my stomach in bed and grunted in displeasure. Who in the right mind was calling this late? Advertisement people? Scam calls? Those people were working really hard to be extra annoying nowadays. Anything could wait until tomorrow at this point!

"Hello? Hello? I don't understand what you are saying. I think you have the wrong number?" I picked up the line and yelled in English before hanging up again. That should stop them to call again.

Right after I hanged up, the same number called again. I glared down at the screen. They were some persistent bastards…

"Do you advertisement people realize how late it is right now? Couldn't you at least call tomorrow? Even better, can you remove me from your list?" I said angrily in Chinese this time.

"It's Han WenQing." A deep voice came across before I hung up again.

I blinked. I checked the caller ID and it didn't say Old Man Han. I was sure I had put in his phone number from All-Star Weekend.

"I'm calling from a borrowed phone." He said as if he read my mind.

"…Oh." I thought about hanging up right there, but wasn't this the outcome that I had hoped? Now he was actually contacting me, what do I say?

"So about earlier this week." He said awkwardly over the phone and paused.

"Yea? What about it? What do you want?" I replied rather coldly.

"I'm sorry."

"You should be." I know I have said once he apologized I would forgive him, but he had kept me waiting for almost a week. Forgive me for being pissed off.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have taken all my anger out on your like a punching bag. Your suggestion was actually not bad. I was acting like an idiot. I hope you can forgive me."

Wait a minute. Those words didn't sound like something this man would say. He usually never says that many words in one go. The way he said it was also a bit mechanical too. This seemed a bit fishy.

"Are you reading off a script or something?" I asked.

"Yea…sorry." He knew he was caught and lying would make things worse.

"Why?" I was a bit peeved. If he was reading from a script, this didn't feel like a sincere apology from him. Was he even sorry?

"I'm not great with this type of stuff." He sighed.

"I noticed."

"Some people helped me put together an apology based on popular TV dramas. Best chance of getting a female's forgiveness base on their analysis."

"You are an idiot." My anger was mostly faded now.

"I deserve that." He admits. "I will give you a proper apology when I see you next."

"I will forgive you, but only if you agree to let me destroy Desert Dust in the Arena once in a while."

"Only if you have the ability to, Brat." Han WenQing smirked at the idea of PKing seriously together in the Arena again. He was always up for fighting a strong opponent.

Unknowing to Naomi, Han WenQing actually recorded their previous battle. After carefully analyzing that battle, Han WenQing admitted that Naomi's skills had improved. Yes, White Robed Witch was a difficult character to beat due her hybrid class nature, but Naomi's current hand speed and judgment weren't bad either. If she wasn't so stubborn about playing another character in Glory and had started pro-training a bit younger, Han WenQing thought she might have made a good addition to his team or a formidable opponent.

"We will see how cocky you will be when I beat you, Old Man Han!"

"Don't make me wait too long, Brat." Han WenQing said confidently.

Just like that, it seemed like we were back to how we were before and we chatted a bit over the phone.

"Oh. If you know what's good for you, tell me who gave you my personal phone number." There was just one thing that I still wanted to know. I just remembered I had never given my number to Old Man Han.

"Lin agree to give it to me if I gave him my signature next time we meet." Han WenQing was smart enough to hide nothing from me.

"I see." I narrowed my eyes at the name of the rat. I already thought of ways to torture this fan boy at work this coming week.

Around the same time, somewhere in a distance, Lin sneezed and felt a chill down his spine while he was getting ready to retire for the night. Lin wondered if he was coming down with a cold.

The following week at work, Lin somehow had a whole week of diarrhea from something he ate or drank from work. Everyone else didn't have that problem, so it was concluded that Lin must have caught a stomach bug. What exactly happened or caused the issue for the poor man remains a mystery even to this day. :)

* * *

(1) Whales - people who spent large amount of money to get what they want in games.

A/N: Sorry to everyone who was left brokenhearted last chapter. Now Naomi and HWQ are friends again. Let me explain why the plot required them to fight to begin with.**Warning**For those who have not read the light novel, this will be a spoiler.

In the playoffs, Tyranny was eliminated early on. Ye Xiu had observed that HWQ was playing differently/using a new fighting style. It is hinted in the previous chapter that Naomi was cause of the change.

To Naliyu: Hope the explanation above makes you less sad now.

To Guest: I think this experience will improve their friendship in the long run since HWQ takes Naomi's advice and start to change in the future.


	24. All About the Money

A/N: So many stuff going on this week! Fat Tuesday, Valetine's Day, and Lunar New Years all in the same week. So happy all those days to everyone. I'm busy with the New Years at home so only could do minimum/rush job editing on this chapter. Some places might be choppy/bad transition. I hope to fix in future.

* * *

The end of May also marked the start of the playoffs. I had been busy working on posters and Project Cloud Piercer to notice that the whole month of May had passed by. I have already finished the unpainted figure and was currently laying down the base colors. Both Glory Co. and Samsara came to rush me on the job multiple times in May. They would really like to have a finished product to show at one of Samsara's playoffs matches.

However, when I presented a roughly painted 1/7 scaled Cloud Piercer, Samsara's owner changed their mind and moved the date to the week of finals. It was almost like they were super confident about their chances of winning the whole thing. I was a bit peeved that they had rushed me multiple time and was pushing back the date, but didn't voice anything complains aloud. I wondered if they knew or cared how many late nights I had worked to rush the job. It felt like a slap in the face now that they were telling me I didn't need to work so hard. What's up with that?

x

Along the line of weird stuff, Ye Xiu contacted me out of the blue in the beginning of May. The conversation went something like.

[Is it possible to send me your account card?] He randomly asked me one day when I was working overtime.

Ye Xiu knew how much I cared about White Robed Witch account. He understood asking me for my account card was like me asking for his Lord Grim. But if he was willing to ask something like this also meant that something serious had came up.

[I trust you with my account, but I don't trust the mailing service.] I replied after thinking about it for a few minutes.

[I can't blame you. Some of my TaoBao(1) orders were lost in the mail.]

[What's up? I will try to help if I could.]

[My team made a guide to try out. We need to collect more data.] I could read between the lines, whatever this guide they were testing was top secret. For him to even tell me that much, I knew he trusted me a lot.

[Sending you my account card is not possible, I'm sorry. Let me know if there is any other way I could help.] I wrote. I wasn't nosey. If he felt like his secret was something he could tell me, I'm sure he would without me asking.

[Can you keep a secret then? You can't even say anything to YiFan.]

[You are not doing something illegal right?] I suspected. This seemed like pretty serious stuff if he was telling me not to tell YiFan.

[Do I seem like the person to?]

[Yes]

[Haha. Be more trusting XiaoBaiBai.]

[Fine. I won't tell him or anyone else. What's with the secrecy? Are you going to make me send you a deposit next?]

[That's not a bad idea. Can you?]

…I meant it as a joke, but it seemed Ye Xiu either took it seriously or was being his normal shameless self. But since I suggested it, it wouldn't look good for me to back out now. [Give me your bank account.]

[I was joking. But if you want to, send it to here. J] He sent me a line of numbers.

[…] I felt the urge to choke him through the electronic screen.

[How much are you sending by the way? So I can keep on eye out.] He asked.

[2000.]

[I thought you'd make more. Even I make 1500 per month at an Internet café.]

[That's what I get every two weeks, actually. Artists don't live off of our annual salary; we live off of commissions mostly.]

[That you gave up about half on your last project.] He really knows how to rub a person the wrong way.

[Check your bank account tomorrow, I just send it.] I rubbed my forehead. I was starting to get a headache from talking to this guy. Why was I still talking to him again? Oh yea, since my training with Tiny Herb ended, I need him to help me shape up for next season so I won't lose too much face on stage.

x

The following day was a nice Saturday; it was one of the two days I had been looking forward to all week. I had been worked to the bones, so I had been looking forward to sleeping in as long as I liked. Of course, by the will of the universe, my morning was disrupted by a certain someone at 8AM.

[Whoa. I thought you said you were sending 2000.]

[I did send you 2000.] I typed back annoyed on my phone.

[I was talking about RMB. What were you talking about?]

[…USD.]

[Dang. You get 2000 USD bi-weekly? You want to help fund my team, wealthy miss? :)] Ye Xiu shamelessly asked me like I was their cash cow.

I rolled my eyes at the message and tossed the phone to a corner of the bed. I decided to go back to sleep. Or at least I attempted to until Ye Xiu started to message me again and again when I didn't respond the first time.

[Why aren't you in Heavenly Domain yet?]

He was correct; I had not officially entered Heavenly Domain yet after I finished the quests.

[I want YiFan to be online to see it…]

[How is he doing nowadays? Do you know his plans after this season?]

[He is still the same. I don't know his plans. I think he is still looking for an opportunity to stay in the pro-scene. Why do you ask him directly? I'm sure he will be really happy to hear from you.]

YiFan became super busy with Tiny Herb preparations for the finals. Sure he wasn't actually playing in the playoffs, but he still took his daily team training seriously. He had handed his One Inch Ash to someone to power level for him to level 70 by the time I finally completed the Heavenly Domain quests. I refused to enter Heavenly Domain if my little brother wasn't there to see it. I know I was being very vain. It was an established fact, so deal with it.

[Since you already paid the deposit, start helping me with my team's research. Most of the things you can do in the normal server.]

I grunted when I saw that Ye Xiu didn't plan to stop bothering me anytime soon. I sighed and tossed on some sweats and washed up before logging into Glory.

[Did I ever tell you that you are a slaver driver?]

[Hehe] was his normal reply when he couldn't be bothered to type an actual answer.

x

That Saturday, he asked me about this quest and that quest. There had been so many years I have been inactive, so I don't even remember if I have done any of those quests. He just told me to check my quest log. Not getting what was going on, I did what I was told. Of the quests he mentioned, it only looked like I had only done 1 or 2 of them. I never really cared about the story in the game, and it was faster to level and earn gold by killing monsters than questing.

Whenever I was online throughout the month of May, he gave me step-by-step directions on different quests. He stressed about following each step to the letter. In return, he wanted me to report back what items I would receive from the quests.

At first I didn't get what's going on since he still had kept me in the dark on things. But things became immediately clear even without him telling me. 5 out of the 6 quests I completely, I would get a skill point book as a reward. I asked him once if this was what he was researching and he confirmed my suspicions. He told me my luck was pretty good since skill point book drop rate from these quests was only estimated around 60%. White Robed Witch would probably considered to have average skill point to start with. If I had more time to do these quests, I might even be able to hit the maximum skill point! That's amazing!

[What did you plan to do with this godly guide?] I asked one day.

[Sell it.] He replied simply.

[Oh, good. Hope you make a lot of money so you can stop asking me for money.]

[That's what we are hoping. But I will still ask you for money though. The team still needs a steady investor.]

[I'm poor. You are really asking the wrong person…but good luck with the sale.]

x

For the whole month May, I spend most of my time working many late nights in my studio at the company. Any rare free time left over I had outside of work I spent helping Ye Xiu with his research. Since White Robed Witch was now level 70, I didn't have to fear about getting fired over that little detail anymore at least. Ye Xiu had complained more than once to me that I wasn't logging on too often during these few weeks. Since he wasn't paying for my time, I told him to suck it up.

[How mean.] He once told me and sent over a crying emoji, but I knew he wasn't being serious, and he didn't care either way.

x

A small unofficial betting pool was started at the company as to which team would be crowned the season 8 champions before the playoffs started. No one was sure how Sam, out of everyone in the office, caught wind of the pool. Sam urged everyone from the overseas department to partake as a group as bonding exercise and use this chance to meet people from other departments. Some people, like Mazuki and Lin, were a bit reluctant about this since it was considered gambling in the workplace. I had nothing to fear so I went along with it though. If the CEO already tossed money into the pool, it should be fine for the rest of us right?

Most people had bet on Blue Rain, Tiny Herb, or Tyranny, but I bet a shiny penny on Samsara. People in the company laughed at me for being too naïve. They said I shouldn't overestimate Samsara just because they are doing well this season.

Muscle can't win against brains. Samsara would definitely fall under the tactics of the other teams. Blue Rain and Tyranny had a Master Technician on those teams, my co-workers told me. Wang JieXi was not a Master Technician, but his tactics were almost on par with Glory's four Master Technicians. I disagreed because I had my suspicions on which team Ye Xiu sold his skill point guide to.

I was at Tiny Herb's home match against Void when my suspicions were confirmed. I normally wouldn't go to the live match. However, at this point, I haven't seen YiFan for more than a month now. I was worried that he would have more conflict with his team after my professional relationship with Tiny Herb had ended and couldn't check up on him regularly anymore. I had been checking up on him on QQ, but I knew the kid wouldn't say anything bad about anyone else even when he was badly treated. Only way I could get a glimpse of him was to get a ticket to the tournament like the rest of the fans.

I blended in with the crowd easily at the event. With the help with photo filters, I looked like a completely different person in real life than on my Weibo posts. I also usually wore big chunky framed glasses in pictures to hide the details of my face. For the event, I wore clear contacts and plain clothing; nothing that would make I stand out.

From my seat, I was far away from the stage. With the help of my binoculars, I found YiFan in Tiny Herb player's sitting area. YiFan, unsurprisingly, was sitting closest to the water dispenser the whole night and passing out cups of water to the rest of the team. Everyone else, minus YingJie, seemed to ignore him like usual. I sighed. At least his relationship with his team wasn't worse than what it was. I hoped YiFan would find new opportunities once his contract dissolves. I wasn't too worried; I had a gut feeling that Ye Xiu might have something up his sleeves since he had ask about YiFan's future plans.

x

My suspicions about Samsara were pretty much confirmed after the first round of playoffs. At the end of the night, the host announced the winners and scores for the other 3 matches that had happened simultaneously. From the scores, Samsara had completely dominated Thunderclap. I mean the battle wasn't even close! There was no way that Samsara could have improved that much over the two week break before the playoffs.

[Did you sell the guide to Samsara?] I quickly messaged Ye Xiu after the match. I caught part of Thunderclap captain's, Xiao ShiQin (肖时钦), after match interview. From something Xiao ShiQin said, I was 99% sure that the sly bastard, Ye Xiu, sold the guide to Samsara.

[How did you know?] Ye Xiu send over a shocked emoji.

[Something Xiao ShiQin said in the interview. I was only 99% sure until you confirmed it just now.]

[How smart!] He praised, but I didn't feel flattered at all.

[I hope they paid you well for the guide.]

[Yup.] He said vaguely. I didn't mind that he wasn't giving me the exact numbers because it wasn't my business to know. I was just glad that he didn't get bullied and ripped off during negotiation.

[So you probably don't need me to be an investor anymore right] I asked hopefully.

[I never said that. If you are offering, of course we would gladly accept.]

Then he sent me a document via QQ.

[What's this?]

[The official Team Happy document you wanted to see before funding us.]

I guess I did promise him that a few chapters ago didn't I? I opened the document up and skimmed through dense writing. I dry laughed. My reading skills weren't so terrible that I didn't notice a few major errors in the document.

[I will start serious think about it. But can you at least replace the other team names in the document? It is obvious you just copy and pasted some of the other team's stuff together.]

[Oh, where?]

[...]

I had no life outside of Glory and work lately, and he was constantly online. So we talked somewhat often. One time, Ye Xiu told me all that had happened to him in the last half a year. He told me how his previous team, Excellent Era, pretty much screwed him over and forced him to leave mid-season (my words, not his). How he ended finding a job and talents in a place called Happy Internet café, hence the current guild and team name. How he planned to start from scratch and climb his way to the top again. I did notice that as he talked about the past, he didn't seem to have extreme hatred towards Excellent Era's unjust actions. After hearing his story, I was angry for him.

[No need. We will just beat them in the relegate match.] He waved my anger off when we talked about it.

[Still… I will definitely refuse any work request from them in the future. You can bet on that.]

[Instead of refusing, how about fund my team with money they gave you? Haha.] He simply replied.

Helping him with start up cost and investing his team's future wasn't impossible. I was financially set and did have small nest saved up in my banks. The company was still slowly paying out my commission over the last few months too from the pre-order. But what I had to my name wasn't a huge amount by any means. I don't have a huge family inheritance or had won anything over 2 dollars on lottery tickets. What I had is gathered from every sweat and tear through hard work. I had a feeling it was very costly to start up a team; what I can offer probably won't meet his team needs by a long shot.

x

Qualifiers and semifinals came and went quickly, and then half of the final was over too. The first half of the final ended with Samsara leading 7.5 to 2. People quickly lost all their money in the pool, I was only one of 10 people left. Seven of those people put their bet on Blue Rain and were outraged by the results from the first half. They comforted themselves that Blue Rain would make a comeback at their home stage for the final match day. I was doubtful of their optimistic view but decided not to say anything. They looked down at the people who put their bets on Samsara and trash talked a lot. I didn't mind though; I will just find satisfaction when I take their money at the end.

In only a week, the highly anticipated last match of the season was already here. For the final day of the match, Glory Alliance flew me out to City G with the painted 1/7-scaled figure of Cloud Piercer, Lin, and YueHua. Usually one translator came with me, but this time both of them were adamant about going to the event. Lin wanted to come because he missed his chance spending time with Samsara's team last time. YueHua also wanted to go because she wanted to spend more time with Zhou ZeKai.

…

Believe me, I know…

YueHua was a hardcore fan I tell you. She even had threatened to quit if the company didn't send her too. I'm not sure of what exactly she did in the company besides being a translator, but she was important enough that even the CEO gave up talking sense into her and just let her do what she wants in the end.

Three of us arrived in City G late morning the day of the last match. Lin and I went to drop off and set up the carefully packed figure at stadium. YueHua headed to the hotel first to start carefully putting together her outfit to meet with her ZeZe later. I asked Lin if he could share a room with her for the night instead. He just gave me an "I'm sorry. You know I can't" look.

"What about having a separate room?" I really didn't want to share a room with YueHua anymore after that week in City S. She traveled with everything she and 10 other people might need. On top of everything, she wasn't a tidy person either. Her cloth and make up exploded everywhere the moment we arrived at the hotel. No, exploded wasn't an exaggeration at all.

"The company already spend extra funds to send her here, you know they won't pay for anything else extra."

"Then I will look into getting a room with my own money."

"Good luck with that, XiaoWang. If there are hotel rooms that aren't sold out yet, the price will be extremely high."

"It can't be that high."

Of course, the universe would prove me wrong. When I asked after getting back from the stadium, the receptionist told me I was in luck! Someone cancelled last minute so they had an opening. Only downside was it would be 600 USD for a night for the tiny single twin sized bedroom. I passed for $600. I groaned out loud, and Lin just patted me on the back.

x

"What do you think of this outfit?" YueHua charged at me with a few clothing items that showed off too much skin the moment I entered our shared room for the night. My eye twitched at the mess in the room. I wasn't sure how it was possible, but it seemed even worse than last time. Last time was at least for a week, but this time it was only here for one night!

"I can't decide. Do you like this with this? Or this with this?" She kept on asking me.

"First outfit." I picked randomly just to stop her from ranting on and on and on.

"I like that better too!" She said as she tossed the other outfits over the shared coffee table and ran into the bathroom to shower, change, do her hair, and apply makeup.

I tuned her out the moment she talked me about fashion. I wasn't trying to be purposefully mean or anything, but she was asking the wrong person. I chose comfort over fashion statement. If I can live my life in sweats, then I would.

I took out a bottle of painkiller and popped one for my headache. I kept on reminding myself that this was only for one night as I picked out my own – much less revealing – outfit for the announcement. I reminded myself that there were delicious breakfast plans in the morning that will make things better, hopefully.

* * *

A/N:Happy Lunar New Years everyone!

Been running low on ideas for writing new chapters lately...but to make up for it, please enjoy new drawings for the fanfic posted in my profile description thingy. Can you guess what kind of dog Naomi has? :)

Thanks to Naliyu and Guest for short reviews in the last chapter. I do read all reviews and enjoy hearing from you all. Thank you for a great year. See you guys in the Year of the Dog!


	25. Sorry, I'm Late

I was out enjoying myself in the streets of City G when my phone vibrated on silent mode. I quickly paid the cashier the money for the cake slices I got in the pastry shop and headed to my next destination down the road, a 7-11. It was very warm day late May day in City G, cheap popsicle sounded really good right now. I was craving the red, white, and blue ones from the States, but I doubt they would have them in China. I took my phone during my walk and saw it was Lin that was calling.

"Hey. 'Sup Lin?"

"You need to come to the stadium right now." He said in all seriousness in his voice.

I checked the time on my phone really quick it was not even 8:30PM yet. He originally told me I could do my own thing until 9PM because the announcement for Project Cloud Piercer would be made between the individual challenge and team challenge tonight. Usually the individual matches would at least last for an hour with all the commentary and breaks between each of three matches.

"I thought I had more time?"

"Samsara front loaded their 3 strongest players in the individual matches. We are already in match three, and Blue Rain is not holding up well at all. You need to come to the stadium as soon as possible. The announcement is going to happen right after the match ends. We need you here now." Lin urged.

The tournament was supposed to be divided into an individual challenge and a team challenge. Between the two matches, one home and one away, the first team to reach 10 points win the whole thing. If it is as Lin had predicted, Samsara was trying to end the match and season early by completely avoiding the team challenge. It was smart strategy for Samsara, but terrible for the sponsors, audience, and broadcasting channels.

"Let me flag down a cab." I replied. I understood the gravity of the situation.

"How far out are you?"

"Maybe 7 to 10 minutes down the street? I'm close. I can see the stadium from here." I gauged.

"Don't bother, traffic outside might be bad. You might get stuck. Just walk to the backdoor as fast you can."

"K. I will hurry." I said as I started to powerwalk towards the stadium.

I sighed as I looked down at my cake box. I had got one slice of each cake they had in the shop that day to try. Yes, one slice of each, you did not read wrong. There was maybe 9 different slices of cakes in the box. Don't judge. They all looked equally delicious and I was indecisive so I got them all. Besides, I had a special stomach just for cakes. How I'm keeping my thin figure? I honestly have no idea. Maybe the magic of Asian metabolism? I was hoping to enjoy these little beauties over a cup of cheap McD iced creamer, that they call coffee, before heading to the stadium. Well, guess there goes that plan, I mentally pouted.

x

By the time I arrived at the backstage, I was already too late. The Blue Rain players were already done with their after match interview and were leaving the stage. I could only guess the devastation Blue Rain had just suffered during the match by the gloomy looks on their faces. You could almost see the dark lines down all their faces and imaginary mushrooms growing on top of their heads. Out of the group of people, I recognized two in the group: Captain of Blue Rain, Yu WenZhou, and the big mouth that I didn't remember the name of.

"Hi." I greeted the two people I knew as their group walked pass by me. Since I was already late, I couldn't be later than late for the announcement that probably already happened without me.

The Big Mouth sent me a glare and walked away with a huff while stuffing his hands in his team jacket. He was obviously in a terrible mood.

"Ah, Naomi. Hi. Please don't mind him. He is…" Yu WenZhou actually stopped to talk to me. I could tell he was trying to be pleasant, but there was grief behind his polite smile. He was trying to hide it, but I could still tell Yu WenZhou was hurting from the loss too. They were so close to the champion title but then somehow got beaten so miserably on their own turf.

"No problem. I understand." I offered a small smile to Blue Rain's captain for comfort. "There is still next season! Good luck."

"Next season." Yu WenZhou looked off into a distance with a thinking expression and then gave me a sincere smile. "Yes, we will just have to try harder next season don't we. Thank you." He nodded his head in appreciation before walking towards where his teammates waited for him.

"Hey Blue Rain's Captain." I called to him before he got too far. "Here, something to cheer the team up maybe." I walked briskly to him and carefully handed him the cake box I had been holding.

"?" I could see the question mark on his face.

"I don't think I will be able to enjoy them tonight with everything going on and it wouldn't be good to have them spoil. Hope you guys will be able to enjoy them for me." I quickly waved at him and rest of his team before running off to find Lin and YueHua.

x

"Hey. Sorry. I tried to get here as fast as I could. What did I miss?"

I had texted Lin when I arrived in the stadium to see where he was. I would have called, but there was so much noise all around so it wouldn't be very practical. After a lot of texting back and forth, and asking the backstage staff, I finally found Lin and YueHua standing in a little corner backstage.

"Pretty much everything. We had to do _everything_ for you." YueHua said acidly and rolled her eyes at me.

 _Who put a stick up her butt?_

"No one knew something like this would happen." Lin glared at YueHua's direction before comforting me. "Don't worry too much about it. It really wasn't anyone's fault. But if it was anyone's fault, it is my fault. I did tell you just to arrive by 9PM. The announcement is already made. Reception would be better at Samsara's home stage, but this isn't bad either. Samsara and the press are looking for you to take a picture with Zhou ZeKai in front of the figure together. I will let them know you are here now."

x

I apologized for my lateness when I was in front of everyone that was still left in the stadium, which was only the Samsara team and the media people. The audience had already dispersed since most of them were still Blue Rain's fans, and they had followed the Blue Rain team out of the stadium. Everyone, minus YueHua, was super nice about my tardiness and quickly directed me to stand next to Zhou ZeKai in front of the Plexiglas case the figure was in.

"Hi." Zhou ZeKai greeted me with a single word. He seemed to be glad to see me again though since he smiled brightly my way. It must be the stage lights shone on him because he was too blinding to look at right now. Someone get me sunglasses please!

"Congratulations! Ready for the picture?" I politely smiled back.

"Yea." Zhou ZeKai happily nodded.

In the end Zhou ZeKai and I both did V's(1) with our hands for the pictures because the victory hand sign seemed appropriate for the occasion. We both then said the generic 'it was nice to work with you' on the project and yada yada in front of the media. I had talked in English and Lin translated next to me.

I decided to leave the stage after the pictures but the media kept me with question about White Robed Witch's role in next season.

"What does Glory Co. have planned for you for the 9th season?" One reporter raised the mic towards me.

"From insider rumors, will we see you more at tournaments, Naomi?"

"What more can you tell us about what you will be doing next season?"

"Er…I don't know anything about that…" I quickly glanced to Lin next to me, I saw him shrugged his shoulders and shook his head subtly. I caught his signal to not say anything about the topic.

Glory Co. was going to announce something at the awards ceremony next week. An inside leak from the company? Even if the information was leaked, I wasn't allowed to say anything before the official announcement. Heck, they were asking the wrong person here, even I had been kept in the dark about the details.

"Media friends. Rumors are just rumors, please don't take it seriously." Lin started to handle the situation with the press while rushing me off the stage.

He promised the media that Glory Co. would share more information with them if the rumors were founded and pushing the media's full attention back to the champion team. YueHua just crossed her arm and rolled her eyes in my direction. She had not been the same since our business trip together to City S.

The people from eSport news were disappointed but couldn't get anything more out of Lin and I. After the press issue was addressed, a crew quickly moved the figure and the case to the backstage area where Lin and I supervised the packing of the figure back into a secured, padded, and nearly indestructible case.

"Well now everything is done. Let's all go back to the hotel now." Lin suggested.

"You guys do that. I will stay for a little longer." YueHua said haughtily before presumably went to find a good spot to stare at Zhou ZeKai during the rest of the Samsara's press conference.

x

"Are you hungry? This old man has worked up an appetite after all the commotion. Have you been to a night market in China yet? A lot of goodies there." Lin rubbed his hands together excitedly. His wife must make sure he eats right so don't allow him to go to the night market stalls or fast food places very often.

"No. I have heard of them, but never been to one. I always worry about being at one alone." I admitted.

"You live too cautiously! You will never have fun if you don't take risks." Lin disapproved.

"I rather not get food poisoning thanks." My parents had warn me multiple times before I moved and even occasionally not to eat at street stalls and night markets because food can be a bit iffy(2).

"Night markets are perfectly very safe. I grew up eating food from them and I'm still alive! Lets go and grab a bite together since this old man is with you tonight."

After we made sure the figure for Cloud Piercer was packed up and secured for transportation back to City B again. Lin and I left the stadium to a night market close by. For the rest of the night Lin and I spend our time eating different types of skewers, sweets, seafood, and fried food from street stall to stall. I have to admit everything was really cheap and delicious. Only time will tell if I will be sitting on the toilet all night long from food poisoning.

* * *

(1) V sign is the same hand gesture peace sign.

(2) Some night market food stalls can be iffy because some places use/reuse dirty oil, cheap/not fresh food sources to keep cost low. Cleanliness/quality control for these stalls are low at times.

* * *

To Naliyu: Aww. Your review was so sweet. Yes, it seems like everyone have a love and hate or hate and hate relationship with Ye Xiu doesn't it?

To Guest: The betting pool wouldn't be too much actually. They max each person out at 100UDS and not everyone joined the bet and not everyone bet the max. The total in there I would say is around 3-4K UDS and she would need to split it with another person. It's a good amount but very small compared to what team needs. Happy in the light novel sold their guide for 20 million RMB. That's roughly 3 mil USD. So anything Naomi can give to them are small cookies.

Special thank you to all the readers/love from the Philippines. I am really surprised how many views I got from you guys this month! Can't thank you all enough! :)


	26. The Question of the Day

Some point late into night, YueHua came back from, what I assume, idol stalking and made a lot of noise. She seemed to be upset. I could only assumed her idol probably didn't notice her or recognize her from their previous meeting before. Anyways, YueHua released her anger by tossing and slamming things into her suitcase around 1AM. All I had to say was this the woman was not considerate of other people.

I attempted to fall back asleep but she was making so much ruckus that it was hard to. At one point, I think I might have even preferred to spend the night on the toilet since I wasn't going to get much sleep tonight anyways. But after some time, the noise started to fade into the background, and I finally sank into slumber when fatigue overtook me.

x

I woke up the vibrating sounds of my phone alarm. It was only 5:00AM and the sun wasn't even up yet, but I had somewhere to go and I was actually excited. Lin and I looked up a famous local Dim Sum place because we came to City G. The restaurant was known for its reasonable pricing, variety, and quality. The online reviews said that the place opened at 5:30AM and would have a line out of the door by 6AM. This just meant that we had to get there early!

I was surprised to see the roomy tidy when I shot up from bed. I have to admit YueHua did a good job cleaning after herself. I attempted to wake up YueHua to go to breakfast together. Lin didn't really invite her along, but I didn't want to exclude her by not saying anything.

"Go away!" YueHua growled and tossed the cover her head. She was in a bad mood, maybe not a morning person. "Just go away!"

"A good breakfast might help." I suggested.

"You going away will help!"

"That's a bit harsh." I laughed her comment off like a joke.

"You are hogging all ZeZe's attention to yourself! He didn't even notice me when you showed up!" YueHua surprised me when she suddenly jumped out of bed and suddenly started to yell.

"I don't think that's true. With how you were dressed, it was hard not to notice you." I thought back to her holographic, skimpy, showy outfit. She was like a walking shining prism under the lights; it was kind of hard to not notice her.

"Just get away from him if you know what's good for you! Don't get in my way of my love!" She yelled like a crazy person and then shoved me with strength I wasn't expecting.

I lost my balanced and fell backwards. During the fall, I felt the side of my cheekbone hit the night table.

"I…I…" YueHua stuttered. I could tell she felt bad and regret her action immediately. She couldn't believe she had lashed out like that. She couldn't find her words at first. "You deserve this!" She finally decided and hid back under the sheets.

I touched my sore face and winced at the light pressure. There was at least no blood I noted, but my good morning mood was now completely ruined. I send a glare at YueHua's way before picking myself up from the floor and went into the bathroom to make note of the damage.

x

I was mad at her. But it wasn't because she indirectly hurt my face. My face wasn't that of an actress's or supermodel's anyways, so I was not vain enough complain about disfigurement. There was an obvious red mark on the right side of my cheek. It would probably bruise purple and black later, but it would heal. Foundation and concealer would cover it up if needed. But I was really mad that she was throwing a tantrum like a bratty kid at her age because she didn't get attention or what she wanted. The world isn't fair to anybody, deal with it, Princess.

Took a breath to I grabbed my already packed bag from last night and headed out the door. As I was about the exit the room, I heard sounds of sobbing from under the sheets. I sighed. Unknown to YueHua, one of my major weakness - besides KFC and cakes - was people crying. People crying suck; I can't stand it because it just made me feel really uncomfortable and I don't really know how to deal with it. Do I leave them alone to give them time to cry it out? Or, should I go comfort them in the now? I tried it both ways, and had been bit in the butt. Looking at the crying confused lump under the bed sheets, I just couldn't leave things as it is.

"Look, you have nothing to worry about. I'm not 'stealing' Zhou ZeKai from you or any of his fans. Heck, I barely know the guy. Have you hear how he talks? I think I'd go crazy trying to have any conversation with him over coffee or something." I knew I should be more serious in this moment, but I couldn't help to let out a laugh as I imagined in my head how a date with Zhou ZeKai would go. I would need like Zhou ZeKai translator with me or I might just run into a wall head first in the middle of the date to get out of it.

"I *hic* won't let you *hic* make fun of *hic* of my *hic* Zeze." YueHua said between sobs. She poked her head from under the covers with a pout; all of her malice gone.

"Do we have a understanding?" I asked before heading out.

She nodded.

x

When I met up with Lin in the hotel lobby, the first thing he asked was about that mark on my face.

"What happened to you face? Did something happen between you and YueHua?" Lin's guess hit the bull's eye, but I wasn't about to let him know.

"Naw. I fell off the bed middle of the night and hit the corner of the night table. With all the money the company have, couldn't they at least reserve rooms with bigger beds?" I complained bitterly to covered up the accident.

Lin gave me a doubtful look but didn't say anything else.

"Come on. It's already 5:15AM. We have to get there early or we will be waiting outside." I rushed Lin out of the hotel.

"And whose fault is that? I was on time while someone was late." Lin said playfully.

"Sorry. Sorry. Forgive me Lord Lin (林大人). I will make it up by paying for all of the bill." I said dramatically while imitating a dramatic upper bow at the waist from historic Chinese dramas.

"I hope you have deep pockets then because I'm hungry." Lin patted his stomach and grinned like he won the lottery.

"Jeez. I'm surprised that you are hungry after wolfing down that much food from last night."

"I have special stomach for Dim Sum. Let's hurry XiaoWang, or we will really be waiting in line for a long time."

x

Our worries were founded. When we arrived at the restaurant around 5:35AM, there were already a short line of people waiting outside the front door. It seemed that many of Samsara fans that were here and other tourists had the same idea as us. Lin and I groaned. Depending on how fast people ate and got out of there, it would at least a 30-60 minute wait.

"Just to let you know. I completely blame you for this." Lin said plainly.

"I know. I'm sorry." I apologized again and again.

As the time passes by the minute, the longer the line got behind us.

"Naomi?" About 15 minutes of waiting in line, a female voice called my name. I'm pretty sure she was speaking to me since what are the chances of another person with the same English name as me at this time and this place?

"Yes?" I look a good look at the lady in a waitress outfit in front of me. Nope, I was sure that I had never met this female in my life before. Perhaps she was a fan?

"Someone in one of the private booths asked me to invite you two in."

"Oh? Sure, led the way." Lin and I looked at each other and shrugged. We both didn't know anyone in town, so we had no idea who was inviting us in. But if we can skip the line, we will.

x

The waitress led us up to the second floor and through a quiet hallway to an executive private booth in the restaurant. It was almost too quiet down this hallway. I started to worry if she was taking us somewhere to be slaughtered and then be made into human meat Dim Sum (1). I gulped nervously at my overactive imagination.

"Ah, thank you for bringing them here." A familiar gentle male voice said to the waitress.

Once the blushing female turned and left, I finally got a good look at our host. He had the generic hair cut most young men had and gentle feature to match his voice. Dressed in a plain blue polo, khaki pants, and sneakers, he looked like anyone on the streets. Nothing was really ringing a bell for me. I couldn't put my finger on it, but he did look a bit familiar. Another fan?

"We have a private room inside. Come and enjoy us." The man invited in a friendly manner.

I looked towards to Lin to see what his opinion was. Lin nodded excited in my direction. There was only reason why Lin would be this excited, this was a Glory pro-player in front of us.

"If you insist Captain Yu." Lin answered with his fan boyish way.

Blue Rain's Captain Ye Wen Zhou nodded in delight that Lin and I had agree to enjoy him and the rest of the team for breakfast. Without this team jacket and his loud mouth sidekick, he really blended in with the rest of the population. If I didn't know better, he looked like a grade school teacher! Add that loud brat as an accessory to his person, he fit the image of an elementary teacher perfectly! Or a zookeeper with a monkey. Depending how you see it.

"What happened to your cheek?" Yu WenZhou politely asked the question of the day.

"Fell out of bed last night, not a huge issue." I gave the same blow off answer as I gave to Lin earlier in the day.

"You should be more careful in the future." Yu WenZhou was probably doubtful, but he didn't push the topic.

x

Even before Captain Yu opened the doors to the private room, I could hear someone ordering almost the whole menu through the doors.

"Miss, miss, miss (小姐). I want a basket of shrimp dumplings (虾饺), house soup dumplings(小笼包), BBQ pork buns(叉烧包), chicken feet (凤爪), spring rolls(春卷), and egg custard buns(奶黄包). What else is good?"

"Huang ShaoTian! Is that for all of us or just for you?" Someone else yelled.

"This is all for me, you hear? You hear? You hear? You guys better not touch my food! You hear? You hear? You hear? All of you order your own food. Don't touch my food! You hear? You hear?"

"You are ordering way too much for yourself!"

"Ahhhh! No way! No way! No way! I can definitely eat them all and eat more. Don't underestimate me! You guys will see!"

"Your teammates seem lively this morning." I commented. Yu WenZhou nodded his head in agreement and smiled fondly as we entered the room. He was probably glad that everyone's spirit was returning back to normal after last night's loss.

x

"Captain." Everyone greeted Yu WenZhou when he entered.

Huang ShaoTian sat with his back to the door. He turned his upper body to look at us. He stared at the three of us at the door quietly for only a second before starting flapping his gums again.

"Ahhhhh! It's you. Why are you here? Huh? Huh? Huh? Captain I thought you said you saw someone familiar outside and went to get them? It can't be them right? Right? Ahhh. Naomi, Naomi, I have a question for you. Why did you buy so many cakes last night? You weren't planning to eat them all, right? Omg. Omg. Omg. You were totally planning to weren't you? Ahahhaha you are such a piggy! Ahahaha. What happened to you face? You probably fell off your bed because you rolled off the bed last because you are so round. Ahahaha" Huang ShaoTian hugged himself around the middle and started to laugh like he heard the funniest joke in the world.

I was indeed telling everyone that I fell out of the bed, but the way it came out of Huang ShaoTian's mouth just completely rubbed me the wrong way.

"…Do you mind if I…?" I turned to Yu WenZhou with a stiff twiching smile on my face.

"I saw nothing." Yu WenZhou turned a blind eye.

"You ungrateful kid. You should thank the person who bought you food! Piggy? Really? I bet you probably ate the most cakes last night than anyone here! I will let you know I have super good metabolism so I won't gain a half kg(~1 lb) after eating all the cakes!" I pinched the chatterbox's cheeks and pulled them this way and squished them that way, like one would do to a chubby baby.

Everyone around the table laughed at their ace's unfortunate situation. They all agreed that Huang ShaoTiao totally deserve it, but somehow wish they were the ones being pinched by this person.

"Ahhhhhh! Captain. Help me! It hurts. It hurts! She is totally nuts! Hateful hag, hateful hag, hateful hag, why you so strong like an ox. Ahhh! Help! Help!" Huang ShaoTian tried to slap my hands away but found it was impossible to get out of my iron grip.

"Ah. Naomi, I think ShaoTian have learned his lesson. Right ShaoTian?" Yu WenZhou interfered after a while and send the blonde a look.

Huang ShaoTian nodded with a pout and kept quiet.

"I suppose." I released the poor guy's, now red, cheeks.

He glared at me as Yu WenZhou directed Lin and I to some empty seats between Huang ShaoTian and himself. Lin looked completely star struck to be sitting next to the best Blade Master in Glory currently and to share a table at a restaurant with the famous team.

"You hag. If we were in game, I would PKPKPKPKPK you so fast that you don't even know how you died. If you dare, let's go PKPKPKPKPK afterwards." Huang ShaoTian taunted.

"You want to go? Then let's go PK afterwards! Although what would achieve by doing that? Would you be more famous if the world knew you won against a nooby normal player?" I laughed at his childish taunt. "Let's eat. I'm hungry."

"Yes. Please order anything you like. The cakes from last night were delicious, thank you." Yu WenZhou handed me a menu.

"Yea! Miss Naomi. Order anything you like, you don't have to be a stranger with us (不要客气)."

"Thank you for the cakes! They were from that TianTian(甜甜)(2) Bakery Shop right? Matcha cake was surprisingly refreshing."

"The mango moose one was best."

"No way, mocha was!"

"…Strawberry shortcake, yum."

Blue Rain's players all piped up one by one around the table. I smiled at the cheerful atmosphere in the room. Blue Rain seemed like a fun team so I was glad that last night's loss didn't permanently affect them.

"Miss. We are ready to order." Yu WenZhou said.

It was only then that I noticed the waitress had been in the room the whole time nervously waiting for everyone to shut up and order so she could get out here.

x

I had a most enjoyable breakfast with Blue Rain and Lin. I even laughed at Huang ShaoTian's childish tactics of stealing food from my bamboo baskets(3) when I wasn't looking. It was fine, because in the end I had the last laugh. Huang ShaoTian ate until no more food couldn't go down his throat and was feeling sick.

The group chatted about this and that. Yu WenZhou asked Lin and I about the rumor of White Robed Witch coming to competitions. Lin blabbered out everything he knew to the Blue Rain team. I was starting to think Lin was the leak inside of the company.

When the bill came, Blue Rain seemed a bit stun at the bill. I could only presume that they didn't bring enough cash or something. Huang ShaoTian probably ordered way too much food and two unexpected guest showed up, the bill was undoubtedly higher than expected. Lin, being a Glory idol suck up, fought Yu WenZhou for the bill. However, when he saw the bill he started to breakout in cold sweat.

I took a glance at the long itemized receipt. Most of the item ranged from 20-30 RMB, but the sheer number of food items that were ordered was in the mid-forties, but no tip in China so the price you see is the price you pay. I quickly did the conversion math in my head; it was still less than 200 USD to feed 11 people around the table.

"Lin, didn't you forget that accidentally pack your wallet in your suitcase and already send it ahead to the airport? How forgetful you can be." I took the bill out of his clammy hands. I'm sure his wife would skin him alive, and I would never see him again at work if she saw his credit card bill for the weekend.

"Ah?" Lin looked dumbly.

"Here. Quickly go or you might be stuck in here forever again." I quickly handed the bill and credit card to the waitress and rushed her out the doors before anyone else could object.

Only once the waitress walked out of the room with my card did everyone in the room finally woke up from their daze.

"It's fine Miss Naomi! We could have taken care of the bill!" Blue Rain players around the table all started to object.

"Blue Rain will take care of the bill." Yu WenZhou stood up quickly to chase down the waitress.

"Ah. It's fine. If you go out there, you might get recognized. We won't be able to leave peacefully that way." I caught Yu WenZhou by the arm as soon as he stood.

"But I was the one who invited you. I couldn't have Blue Rain's guest pay." He argued.

"It's fine, it's fine. My treat. No need to make a big deal about things. Blue Rain just owe me a meal next time we meet." I sipped my hot green tea after the meal. Ah, my secret to good metabolism. Always finish a team with green tea for good digestion.

"Blue Rain will sure to remember and repay the favor." Yu WenZhou accepted my offer with the rest of the team as witnesses.

"That will do. Think I can get everyone's signature around the table? Lin always wants it later but forgets to ask now." I flipped to an empty notebook page and a marker to pass around the table.

"Wait, what about our PKPKPKPKPK? You agreed before the meal, remember? You guys all remember that she agreed to it right? Let's go PKPKPKPK." Huang ShaoTian seemed to bounce back to his normal self when everyone was ready to head out.

"She was only joking." The team said.

"I was only joking." I said plainly and send him a 'you are a dummy' look.

Huang ShaoTian immediately was put into a bad mood like a little kid who was mad at his parents for making false promises.

"I'm really bad compared to the oh so great Sword Saint. But if you really want to PK, we have some time to spare before our flight, right Lin? But don't blame me if people online start saying you are picking on the weak."

"Yea. We do." Lin nodded eagerly. I knew he was up for anything Glory team related.

"I don't care! What are we waiting for then! Let's hurry back to Blue Rain. Wait, is it okay to bring them back captain? It would be a hassle to go to an Internet café, can we please bring them back to Blue Rain so I can PK with her?" Huang ShaoTian begged cutely like a monkey.

"I don't see why not. The season is over. We are not going to do any training until after the break." Yu WenZhou said calmly.

x

We followed the Blue Rain team out of the back alley door and back to their team base. Lin was super excited to be in Blue Rain's training room since he had never been in one before. Like a little kid, he wanted to touch and feel everything.

Lin have not been to Tiny Herb's training room. When he was running between the company and Tiny Herb, he only dealt business in office and meeting rooms. Right now, I thought he would die from excitement.

Once Huang ShaoTian and I in computer across from each other, we logged in with our main accounts and headed to the Arena. All the rest of the members watched from either behind Huang ShaoTian's screen or logged into the game on spare accounts to watch in-game. Only Lin and Yu WenZhou chose to watch from behind me.

When my character got there, Huang ShaoTian already had a room set up. Entering with the password, White Robed Witch stepped into the straightforward open battlefield and saw Blade Master class character named Troubling Rain standing in the middle of it.

"What kind of weapon do you have? Is it actually a staff or spear? Is it really a silver weapon? What's the stats on it? What about the hat? What else is silver?" Huang ShaoTian sprouted one question or another. Since I was sitting in the same room as him, I could him both in-game through the headset and across from me. It was too much of his voice right now.

"Why don't we fight and you find out?" I said as I readied my character.

Even though I sounded calm on the surface, I was a nervous wreck on the inside. This was the first time I'm fighting against a pro-player with their main character on a field without any handicap. The White Robed Witch was going to be murdered brutally by this person with crazy hand speed.

"Don't overthink things. He is coming." Yu WenZhou put a hand on my tense shoulder to snap me out of my thoughts. When did I even tense up?

"Okay! Ready or not, here I come. Now taste my sword! Kill. Kill. Kill. Die. Die. Die." He yelled with every move.

I took a deep breath and opened the fight by using Mobile Cast and used some magic attacks to keep our distance.

"You think you can avoid getting hit by me by keeping your distance? Ahahaha, think again! All you mage class have the same idea. I can see through it all!"

Huang ShaoTian's mouth moved just as fast as his hands. He opened with Lunge followed by Triple Slash to close the distance between us. He then used Sword Draw to try to land the first hit.

I teleported backwards, just out of his sword aura attack range and then surprised him by flip the staff to the other end and lunged forward with Dragon Tooth. But he blocked my spear with his sword.

"So it's really true! Your weapon is a duo class weapon! This is nothing though. I know someone's weapon who can transform more than yours! Ahahaha, this is a piece of cake compare to him. This is so much fun! Show me more! Show me more!" Huang ShaoTian laughed like a little kid and increased his hand speed.

x

I was doing well for a little bit. But once he brought out his legendary Shadow Steps that can even stump other Gods, White Robed Witch's blood spewed everywhere until she had none left. I had lost. The results were expected but I still felt gloomy. With my current skills, there was no way I would win against any of the pro-players. Glory Co was literally sending me on stage to be everyone's punching bag. What were they thinking?

"Good job. You played well. Don't take the loss to heart." Yu WenZhou encouraged after my battle.

"Thanks." I nodded in appreciation.

"Let's play one more round! Your character is interesting. I want to learn more about her. Let's go. Don't waste time. Come on. Come on. Let's go again. I will even go easy on you this time." Huang ShaoTian readied his character again.

Huang ShaoTian and I fought a few more rounds with the same results. Instead of being discourage by the skill gap between Huang ShaoTian and I, I took this opportunity to learn about a possible future opponent. Even if I still lose in the future, I will make sure I take down more of his blood with me. All the rounds ended less than a minute, but second by second, my time fighting him increased with each round.

After an hour of playing with Huang ShaoTian and some of the other Blue Rain members, Lin reminded me that we needed to head to the airport soon. Lin and I thanked the Blue Rain team for their hospitality before heading out to the airport in a cab.

x

"Thanks, XiaoWang." Lin grinned like a big kid as he hugged the signed notebook to his chest and looked at the Blue Rain team building through the rear window until it was out of sight. "You sure about paying for the whole bill though?"

"Yea. It's no problem. I would be worried about seeing you alive again if your wife had found about how much you spend on food from trip."

"She would definitely chop me into minced meat and make me into human meat bun."

"Yup. I thought so too. But you would make some really juicy meat buns!" I laughed.

* * *

(1) in reference to a Chinese Folktale/Horror Story

(2) Made up bakery name. 甜甜 literally means sweet sweet. So shop name is literally Sweet Sweet Bakery.

(3) Dim Sum usually comes in cute little bamboo baskets. Google for reference.

* * *

A/N: My 'vintage' MacBook Pro(2011 model) per the Apple store couldn't handle the new iOS upgrade so crashed/died so they had to wipe the whole drive and reinstall an older iOS to get it working again. So that deleted everything (programs, files, images) The good news is I managed to savage some of the files through a backdoor program.

If any of you out there have older Apple computers or laptop, do not upgrade to the High Sierra OS. There are a lot of compatibility issues and could make your computer stall/stuck during start up. My start up bar was at 100% for 7 hours at one point. They recommended just stick with plain Sierra OS for now.


	27. Beauty is Pain

Awards Ceremony Part 1/2

* * *

A week after the finals ended, Glory Pro Alliance held an awards ceremony in City S to celebrate the official the end of Season 8. All teams from the season were invited along with the major eSport presses.

It was decided that the preorder date for Cloud Piercer, the next Glory character project, and the plans for White Robe Witch's involvement in the Pro Alliance would be all unveiled at the award ceremony. I, along with Lin, was also naturally invited. To my biggest surprise, YueHua had her own invitation this time around.

As shallow as it seemed, it was all about the viewership in the end. According to numbers the company pulled from somewhere, people would rather watching at two young females on camera instead of a cute girl and someone who could be her dad. From now on, YueHua would be doing translation for me in front of the press and cameras, and Lin would be there to handle business in the background.

When we arrived in City S the night before the event, YueHua and I started to unpack in your shared room. Things had been better since our last business trip together. I found a fancy cake from a well-known cake shop in City B on my desk one morning with a card that just said 'Sorry'. It wasn't too hard to guess who it was from, but everyone else in the office thought it was from a secret boyfriend.

Maybe it was because I was a sucker for good cakes, but I completely had no grudge against YueHua after her gift. Let me tell you, the cake was like a super fancy $50 USD simple mixed berry and cream filled cake, and it was the best cake I had ever had. It was maybe even a little life changing and made me tear up a little after my first bite. I loved cake so much.

x

"Is that what you are wearing to the event tomorrow?" YueHua looked at my black cocktail dress in disdain.

The awards ceremony was a fancy dinner party that required formal evening wear. So this meant suit and tie for men and tasteful dresses for women.

"Yea. So?" I saw nothing wrong with the dress. It was the same simple little black knee length dress I wore to the Project Vaccaria's pre-order event. Sure no one complimented me, but no one really said it was bad looking either.

"It looks like a shapeless potatoes sack. You got anything else in that magic bag?" YueHua poked fun at how I only travel with essentials in a normal backpack size carry-on.

"Do you think I could fit another one in here?" I rolled my eyes at her.

"Good thing I always keep a few extra in my suitcase. Let's hope we are the same dress and shoe size because we have a lot of work to do tomorrow!" YueHua sounded delighted as she pulled some very sexy mature looking evening dresses out from her suitcase. She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively my way.

I groaned. I suspected she was going to play real life dress up doll with me being the doll. I had gotten over playing dress up Barbie a long time ago. Nowadays, I chose function and comfort over fashion. Have you seen the needle point some woman walk on? How are women not breaking their ankles left and right? It can't be comfortable either. Can any of them feel their toes after even an hour?

x

"Rise and shine! We are going to make you into a beauty queen (大美女)!" She yelled as she pulled back the blackout curtains by the window.

Morning Light flooded into the tiny hotel room. The warmth of the sunshine was nice. I wished I could sleep under this light all day, but YueHua had other plans for both of us. In the name of beauty, YueHua woke me up at 6:00AM to get ready for the event at 6PM.

"Try again in like 2 hours." I mumbled as YueHua and I played tug-o-war over my warm blanket.

"Beauty is pain, Naomi. Now get up and suffer!" YueHua crackled like an evil villain when she successfully stole my cover.

"No thanks. You go suffer alone. I didn't ask for this." I curled up into fetal position from being suddenly hit with the cold air from the air conditioner.

"You are already up. No point of going back to sleep now." YueHua urged and she attempted to pull me up into a sitting positions.

"Fine, fine." I gave up. She was never going to leave me peace. This kid had way too much energy to burn.

"Good!"

For the rest of the day, I felt like Mulan from the Disney movie getting ready to meet the matchmaker with even more work put in. After a quick morning shower, YueHua pulled into a nearby nail salon to get nails done together. She picked out some cute pinky tone gel nail design for herself, and I chose a simple French manicure.

After wasting a few hours at the nail salon and a bit of money, it was time to go back to the hotel to get everything else done in our room. First it was to try on this and that dress. Then, it was to try on this and that pair of shoes. Finally, it was try to this and that accessories on. After everything was tried on multiple times, the majority of day was already gone. I'm only thankful that YueHua at least remembered to eat let me eat.

x

In the end, it was decided that I would wear a navy lacey halter-top, ankle length, A-line dress, paired with some simple sterling silver jewelries, with silver heels. According to YueHua, it showed off my assets in all the right places. I looked myself in the mirror. It did make me look slimmer and my legs longer. But, I felt the very open back dress showed too much skin and curves that I liked to keep private.

When 5pm rolled around, YueHua and I were both dolled up to the point of unrecognizable. After she finished painting on my new face with make-up, I went to wear my signature glasses.

"What are you wearing?!" YueHua exclaimed when she came out of the bathroom and saw all her hard work covered by pair of glasses.

"My glasses. I'm blind without them." I stated the obvious.

"I seriously thought those were just decorations. There is a thing called contacts!" She mumbled as she dug through my bag and found that I did actually own a pair. She threw them my way.

"They get dry and uncomfortable." I whined. Just because I owned some doesn't mean I actually wear them.

"Use artificial tears!"

"Too troublesome." I sighed dramatically.

"Beauty is pain!" YueHua repeated her motto. "Go put them on right now! I'm not going to let my masterpiece be ruined by those horrendous giant glasses of yours from the Stone Ages."

"They didn't have glasses in the Stone Ages."

"Don't be a smartass."

I pouted under YueHua's glare and went to put the little devils in my eyeballs. Remember kids, always put in contact before any make-up if you don't want your eyeballs to burn from getting product in your eyes. YueHua had to reapply most of my eye makeup because my tears ruined a lot of her work.

x

YueHua opened the door when Lin came to get us around 5:30 to head out.

"Whoa." Lin whistled and gave YueHua a big thumbs up. "Who know you are quite the looker behind those glasses? You look like a dazzling goddess!"

"Dazzling goddess, really? That's an overkill." I rolled my eyes and gave Lin a deadpan look. Lin just grinned like a proud father.

"I know right? I was surprised too! She is going to be a show stopper." YueHua nodded in agreement with Lin and completely ignored me.

"It's called false advertisement with all foundation, concealer, the eyeliner, false lashes, and mascara I'm wearing on my eyes." I rolled my eyes.

"Hush, it's called a woman's secret." YueHua rolled her eyes back at me as she adjusted my hair and spray it down with another layer of hairspray.

"Bleh! Bleh! Bleh! You got some in my mouth. It's nasty." I wanted to scrap the bitter chemical taste off my tongue immediately.

"It wouldn't have happened if you just kept your mouth closed."

"Ugh. Let's go already!" I was mentally tired all this fussing.

As we walked through the hotel, I could feel YueHua and I were attracting a lot of attention. The Pro Alliance had put all the teams and special guests in the same hotel again. In the elevator, in the lobby, and even getting into the chauffeur car, many pro-player stopped and stared with their months open. I felt a bit self-conscious since I was never the type to show too much skin. I wrapped my evening shawl a little tighter to cover my bare shoulders and walked as quickly as I could to the waiting car. I hoped that they all would eat a fly with their mouth open like that.

When we walked out the front door of the hotel, a man stepped out of a parked black sedan and opened car door for us. Once everyone was seated and buckled up, the driver pulled out of the line of charter buses. Looking back at the hotel driveway, it was funny to see a small car parked between big charter buses for the teams.

x

Instead of entering through the backdoor like at most events, Lin, YueHua and I had a red carpet entrance. Lin had stepped out of first and then helped YueHua and I out of the car one by one. The moment the three of us stepped onto the red carpet, we were overwhelmed with people yelling, camera shutter clicking, and flashes.

"Look over here, beauties (美女们)!"

"Look here for picture!"

"Look here! Over here!"

The eSport media people yelled from both sides of the carpet. Many of them probably don't even know who we were. They were probably taking everyone's pictures since everyone who stepped on that carpet were most likely important people in Glory. It was safer for the media to take pictures first and figure out who was who later.

"Who are they?"

"The two girls are so pretty!"

"Who is the old man? Someone famous? A pimp? A bodyguard?" The fans mixed in with the reporter asked each other.

When we finally escaped the chaos of people outside, I chuckled at a sudden thought.

"What's so funny?" Lin asked.

"I was wondering if you would be in trouble with your wife when the pictures come out."

"Why?"

"Well you had a beauty in each arm walking down the red carpet, what will she think?"

"I…I…I have to make a phone call. I will be back." Lin turned paled and went to make a phone call to his wife immediately.

YueHua and I both chuckled at Lin's reaction. We both knew Lin didn't have bad intentions. He was actually trying to rush the two of us inside, away from all cameras, as fast as he could. But you never know about those reporters. They would write lies into the truth if that's how they would get the most amount of views.

x

We were considered early to the event. When we checked in with the front reception, only one or two teams were present. The event did officially start at 6PM. But per the pamphlet in my hand, dinner won't start for at least another hour and the actually awards ceremony won't start until 8PM. And with this type of large-scale event, nothing starts on time anyways.

Once YueHua and I were familiar with our table and seating arrangement, she immediately took off to be a social butterfly. I was left at the table alone. We were seated at the table closest to center stage and shared the same table as Samsara. Although, the Samsara hasn't arrived yet. From the other name plates around us, Blue Rain's table was to the left, Tyranny's tablet was to the right, and Tiny Herb's table was behind.

I looked around the large empty room. I wasn't surprised that I didn't recognize anyone here. Sure there were people I could talk to but I wasn't comfortable with striking up a conversation with random stranger. _Well this is going to be awkward hour._ I thought as I decided to get a glass of punch.

x

"My, my! I came to look for something to drink. Little did I know I would find a goddess here!" a random guy in a overly flashy tux spoke dramatically like an actor from a play. I know he was probably trying to impress me with his pick up line, but it just made me want to roll my eyes at him even more.

"Well sorry to disappointed, I'm no goddess. I'm sure there is a goddess somewhere, you should go look for her." I tried to quickly take my leave, but of course the guy wouldn't take a hint.

"No, no, no. I'm sure you are. It doesn't seem like you recognize me so let me introduce myself. I'm Sun MingJin from 301 Degrees!" He tried to impress me again like his name and team was suppose to mean something. Maybe it would have worked on someone else, but the appeals of the Glory teams and pro players were lost on me.

"Hm. Nice to meet you Sun MingJin, but I have to go." I said politely and tried to escape but he blocked my way.

"At least give me your name and number before you go." He winked disgustingly at me.

Should I sock him in the jaws right now?

"Naomi, Naomi, Naomi. Is that you? You look really different tonight! Did you cut your hair? It must be your hair! It looks different, but good! I'm surprised you are on time! Aren't girls always late because you guys take too long in the bathroom with makeup and stuff?" A knight with a blabbermouth interrupted Sun MingJin's advances. For the first time ever, I was actually glad to see this annoying monkey.

"Can't you see we are talking right now?!" Sun MingJin turned around annoyed and snapped at the person, and then immediately turned pale. "Ah, Senior Huang ShaoTian."

"You guys were done talking right? Right? Right? It seems like she is done talking to you. Your advances towards woman are still sucky as ever MingJin. Ahahaha. I will be taking her now. Laters." Huang ShaoTian grabbed my hand and pulled me away with him.

This was only the very beginning of the evening. At this rate, who knows what other unexpected events would happen tonight?

* * *

A/N: In a lot of business in China (hair salons, street vendors, food stalls, etc) people call/address young females and sometimes even older women "beauties" to get their attention to sell their product. It was a bit of shocker to me when I went back to visit family 2 years ago.


	28. It's Official

Awards Ceremony part 2/2

* * *

I let out a breath of relief when we were far enough from the punch bowl. Lesson learned, punch bowl at Glory events was a dangerous place where unwanted social interactions happen. Would be safer to send Lin to get punch in the future.

"He is annoying idiot. He hits on anything that has boobs and never knows when to take a hint when woman rejects him. You should avoid that idiot when you can. I saved you. You should be thankful. You are super thankful, right?" It seemed like every time he opened his mouth, a stream of words would follow.

"…Yea. Thanks for the save. Where is the rest of your team by the way?" I smiled a little while shaking my head a little. What kind of hero asked to be thanked. That was also when I noticed that I didn't see anyone else from Blue Rain besides the golden haired youth when I looked around the room. There was a few more teams and people here than before, but wasn't a shadow of the rest of the Blue Rain members.

"Err…let's not talk about it." For once, he didn't sprout all sorts of words. Huang ShaoTian fidgeted in his spot.

I raised an eyebrow. The last time he said so little words was when Blue Rain lost last week at the finals to Samsara. Something big or/and upsetting must have happened. From the look of his messy clothing and hair, he must have gotten dressed in a hurry and rushed out of the door. His dress shirt was only half stuffed into his pants. Was he even missing a sock? At least he didn't wear two different shoes on his feet. Putting all the clues in front of me together, I figured out what probably had happened and snickered.

"Hey. Why are you laughing? What's so funny? I want to know too. Wait. Are you laughing at me? Hateful (讨厌). Hateful. Hateful. Is this how you should treat your savior? Why you looking me like that? Stop looking at me! " He complained like a little kid once he figured out that I was laughing at him. He wasn't as stupid as he looked, I will give him that.

"Did you set your alarm to the wrong time and rushed here thinking you were late? Your tie looks like a giant knot. Are you missing a sock on your left feet, or is that a new trend you are trying to start? " I laughed. Once I got over how wordy he was, he reminded me of a little kid or puppy who cries or barks for attention. His behavior was kind of cute and it hard to resist to tease him even more.

"Hateful. Hateful. Hateful! Shouldn't you be more grateful to your savior?" He barked. It seemed like I hit the nail right on the head. Woof, woof. He reminded me of my younger puppy who constantly wanted to be noticed and up on my lap.

"Yes. Oh great Prince of Swords. I am so grateful for your actions. Now why don't you go to the bathroom and fix your dress shirt, hair, and tie? I wonder what the media will say on tomorrow's eNews." I mock bowed.

"I am not stupid. That's why I came in from the back door. They didn't catch me. I don't know how to tie a tie." He pouted.

"Then go fix everything else, I will help you with the tie as a thanks."

"Okay! Deal! Deal! Deal! You can't back out of now. Stay right here you here? You better not go anywhere. I will be back soon. See you later, Naomi. Stay here!" He nodded happily and ran into the bathroom.

x

While I waited for Huang ShaoTian, I watched more people arrived at the event from my little corner. Team Void, Wind Howl, Thunderclap, Misty Rain, and many others had arrived. Oh and if you were wondering, I still don't recognize people from the different teams. I had only recognized people from those teams because some of them would wear a team pin with their evening outfit or the team name would be brought up in conversation. The players of different teams intermingled and chatted easily. Rivalry between the teams were mostly kept during matches and on stage. A quarter to 7, only Samsara, Blue Rain, Tiny Herb, Tyranny, and Excellence Era were not here yet.

"Okay. I'm done. Hurry and help me fix my tie, Naomi. Hey Naomi. Hello! Earth to Naomi! Why are you in a daze?" Huang ShaoTian blocked off my view with his face.

"It's an art called people watching. I doubt it's something you will be able to learn since it requires you to silent." Feeling he was a bit too close, I flicked him in the nose.

"Ow! What you do that for?" He glared as he rubbed the tip of his nose.

"Don't be such a baby. I didn't flick that hard. Where is your tie?"

He pulled out the long silky, but slightly wrinkled, blue fabric from his tux jacket pocket and handed it to me. I smoothed out the crumbed up fabric the best I could with my hands. Under my hands, a perfect triangle knot was formed with the two ends hanging just right. What can I say? I was an expert tie tie-er. Huang ShaoTian even looked a bit amazed at how good his tie looked compared to before.

I took a good look at Huang ShaoTian, adjusted his tux collar, and smoothed out some wrinkles on his shoulders. I guess even a monkey can look good in expensive human clothing.

x

"ShaoTian, where have you been for the last hour? We couldn't find you anywhere in the hotel." Shortly after I helped the Monkey with his tie, Blue Rain had arrived. Yu WenZhou immediately noticed us and came this way.

"Ah! Captain! I can explain! Really! I have a really good explanation." Huang ShaoTian said and hid behind me like a little kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Captain Yu. Please don't be too hard on him. He helped me in a tough situation earlier." I tried to help the guy out.

"Yes. I helped her. Really! And in return she tied my tie. See she tied this. Doesn't it look good?" Huang ShaoTian nodded eagerly behind me.

"Very well. I won't look into this matter anymore. It looks like all the team have arrived. Dinner will be starting shortly. We should all return to our seat." Yu WenZhou doesn't just look like the perfect gentleman in his perfectly fitted navy tux, he acted the part too; he offered me an arm.

"Good idea. Thanks." I put my arm through his without much thought.

"You look very lovely tonight and ShaoTian's tie looks great too." He made small talk as we crossed the room. Huang ShaoTian trailed behind us since we all were heading in the same direction.

"Thanks. You look dashing in your expensive tux." I returned the compliment. "But the makeup is a bit heavy for my liking." I said honestly. I resisted the need I felt to touch my face. I'm sure YueHua would have something to say if I smeared her hard work again.

"I think you look good both ways." Yu WenZhou kindly remarked.

In that moment that we walked together, everyone seemed to stop and stare. Everyone knew Blue Rain's Captain Yu WenZhou, but not many people recognized me - especially not after the makeover. The question on everyone's mind was who was the fairy linking arms with the Captain of Blue Rain?

x

"Did you see how everyone looked to you when you walked across the room? You are totally on par with even with the number one beauty in Glory, Su MuCheng (苏沐橙)." YueHua chattered excitedly next to me when I sat down. I wasn't surprised that YueHua had returned to the table once Samsara had arrived.

"Su MuCheng? …SuGe(苏哥)?" I mused. Could they be related? If I recall, he did mention once or twice that he had a sister. It couldn't be her right? I guess there was only to find out.

"Who is SuGe?"

"Never mind that, which one is Su MuCheng?" I quickly asked.

"The one with long wavy hair in the orange dress. You can't miss her." Lin joined in from my other side when he heard Glory's number one beauty's name came up in conversation. He pointed to a pretty miss towards the back of the room.

"Ah." I decided I would talk to her directly before the night's end.

x

Dinner was not great or terrible; it can be best described as average catered hotel food. No one, besides me, tonight cared about the food though. The atmosphere in the room was definitely ranked A+. Now the season was over, most of the rivalry between teams had ended and people just hang out like a giant group of friend.

"Naomi…like dinner?" Zhou ZeKai tried to make dinner conversations with me at one point in time.

"Captain asked if you liked the dinner tonight." Jiang BoTao (江波涛), vice captain of Samsara explained.

 _Where were you when I needed a Zhou ZeKai translator earlier in the year?!_ I mentally cried.

"It wasn't bad. What about you? Did you like it?"

"…Yea." Zhou ZeKai smiled in my direction. That smile was super effective on YueHua. She seemed to immediately melt in her seat.

x

The time allotted for eating dinner was one hour, but no one actually took the hour to eat. After finishing eating, I turned around in my seat to talk to YiFan. By the will of the event organizer, YiFan and I were seated pretty much back to back from each other. I wondered if they knew our blood relation and purposely planned things this way.

"YiFan, Yifan. Let's take picture together." I tapped the boy on the shoulder to get his attention.

"Huh?" YiFan turned his face.

"Say cheese!" I said in English and quickly snapped a selfie with a surprised YiFan. When I checked the picture, I giggled at YiFan's derpy expression. Also in the background, I could see other Tiny Member's surprised expression. Wang JieXi's raised eyebrows. YingJie with a spoonful of dessert halfway to his mouth. Deng FuShen's mouth wide open like he was about to say something. Overall, I found it to be a hilarious picture.

"Ah! I wasn't prepared. Delete that one Sis!" YiFan tried to grab the phone out of my hands.

"I think you look adorable. I'm keeping that one." I smiled as I kept the phone out of his reach.

"Ah no!"

"Lin, take a proper one for us?" I asked the man next to me. I'm sure my mom and Aunty both wanted to see how cute YiFan looked in a suit.

"Sure. Sit still next to each other now and say eggplant (1)." Lin said.

YiFan and I both sat properly this time and smiled for the camera.

"Oh, hold on, hold on. Let me take another." Lin said took a horizontal one. "Now that's a good picture." He announced proudly and handed my phone back.

I checked the pictures. The first one was YiFan and I looking pretty good already. But I can see why Lin said the second one was even better. In the background, all the Tiny Herb members including Captain Wang JieXi, had huddled together and smiled for the picture too. This picture was definitely a keeper. I guess even Tiny Herb's rock faced captain Wang JieXi can crack a smile once in a while.

x

For a little while, I ran around and took selfies pictures the teams and people I was familiar to post to my Weibo for fans to have an inside look at the event. The award ceremony portion was broadcasted, but the dinner portion was not. My pictures at first only included members of Samsara, Tiny Herb, Blue Rain, and Tyranny since we all sat close to each other. But it eventually increased to include almost all the teams present.

I actually only wanted to take a picture with Old Man Han since I only knew him from Tyranny. It wasn't easy to get a picture taken with Old Man since he dislike being photographed. I guess with a face like his, he would scare someone to death with his pictures. But I was persistent and worn him down until we had a nice picture taken together; he wasn't even frowning like usual. If you squint your eyes really closely, he could even be smiling!

Once his teammates found out I was the artist behind Project Vaccaria and Cloud Piercer, and the owner of the White Robed Witch, most of them wanted pictures together too.

"Eeep!" Lin squealed in a very unmanly like manner after he took multiple pictures of Old Han. Lin could not hide just how excited he was to finally meet Captain Han again in person. Yes you read that right. He took about 20 pictures and only two were good shots of me and Old Han next to each other, the rest was just Old Man with me cut off or completely out of the shot. "Can I have a picture with you too and your autograph, Captain Han? I'm a huge fan of yours."

"This is Lin. You did promise him a while ago to get my contact information. You do owe him." Han WenQing looked at the older man a bit questionably. Before Old Han could open his mouth to decline, I poked him in the cheek and kindly reminded him of the events a few month back.

Under normal circumstances, I was sure it was rare for anyone to be able to get Old Man Han's signature, and was even more impossible to get a photograph taken with him due to his unapproachable attitude. Would you try to approach someone you don't know too well that have a permanent unpleasable expression set on his face?

But Lin was an exception since he was desperate and had already sold out his close comrade for these things. While getting his picture taken and receiving Old Man Han's signature, Lin was hyperventilating like a fangirl who got kissed on the cheek or something, and looked like he could pass out at any moment from pure joy. Jeez Lin, couldn't you be more professional than this?

People from most of the other teams most likely didn't know what I was. However, after seeing I somehow even gotten a picture with Han WenQing and convinced him to take another picture with someone else, they all concluded that I was someone important or special in the Pro Alliance.

When I neared the tables of other teams, the different teams called me over to take pictures with them too. In the end, I ended up with pictures with almost all the teams at the event. I also exchanged QQ and Weibo information with most of the players from the teams so I can send them the pictures and they can follow me on Weibo later. There was only one team that I have not been to and I could feel their stare of jealous on me as I went to all the tables around them but never them. Truth to be told, I had been avoiding Excellency Era's table for many reasons.

x

Towards end of dinner, I finally gathered up enough courage and decided to move towards Excellency Era's table to initiate a conversation with Su MuCheng. When I approached, I could see greedy eyes from a few men at the table. I knew those looks too well. They probably wanted to talk about some kind of deal or get free media fame from me.

"Hi. Are you Su MuCheng?" I asked the young lady dressed in orange that I was certain was the correct person.

"Yes. You are?" She turned to me surprised. To her, I was probably just a complete stranger. I doubt she have heard of me besides whatever was said in the tabloids.

"Naomi. I work for Glory Co. Do you have a moment? I have a few questions to ask in private."

"Oh. Sure!" She replied quickly. I was surprised that didn't turn me down and she almost seemed relieved to get away from her table. I could tell her relationship with the rest of the team seemed tense.

"Thanks for getting me out of there. So what did you want to ask me?" She asked once we got to a quiet corner of the room, away from everyone else.

"Just forget that I asked if the name don't sound familiar. Do you know a Su MuQiu?" I asked.

"How do you know my brother? He…" Su MuCheng's eyes looked surprised and then sad.

"I knew him from back in the first server. Yea, I heard from Ye Xiu. I'm sorry for your loss. I never thought I'd meet you in person. I remember him telling me that you named both his and Ye Xiu when they started playing glory in the 1st server. I was a noob that no one wanted to party with. But he was kind and helped me out a lot." I smiled as I reminisced the good old times.

He had first wanted to charge me a cash fee for helping me out every time. Also, every time he took me on a dungeon run, I would turn the whole run into a utter disaster because I had no idea what I was doing most of the time. 'I'm running a business here lady.' I remembered he saying a lot when we first met, but then he realized I was only a middle school student from a very average family. Ye Xiu had told him to drop me to the curb when they had found out they won't make a penny off of me. I never knew why, but MuQiu never deleted me off his friend list. We kept in touch in game as long as I played. He even went out of his way to help me out with things whenever he had a free moment to spare from his in game business.

"You know Ye Xiu? Do you have a Chinese name?" Su MuCheng seemed to realize something when she listened to my story.

"JingChun."

"My brother used to talk about you at times." Su MuCheng's eyes lit up with recognition. "He talked about how bad you skills were and laughed about some of the failed dungeon runs he did with you."

"Ah, yea. Sounds about right. I was a burden to him. I took a long time to catch on." I admitted embarrassingly and scratched my cheek.

"No. Thank you for bringing laughter in his life. He always told me about you guys' adventures fondly as bedtime stories. He really liked you. If…if he was still alive, I think he would really have liked you."

"Oh, really." I didn't know how to respond to that. I had always being an idiot when it came to feeling related things. I was also too young to know back then. To me, he was a very good and close friend. I enjoyed talk about anything and everything with him. Was that a form of love too?

"If you are ever in City H, maybe you can visit him?" She asked shyly.

"If there is a chance, let's go together."

Su MuCheng and I shared a sad smile. Within this sad moment, we formed some kind of sisterly bond.

x

The awards ceremony went as planned. Different members of different teams were given different titles of being the best of something. Those things were lost on me. I was quite bored out of my mind and was on the verge of falling asleep in my chair as the program continued.

Finally about half way through the awards and titles, it was finally time for the part I was needed for.

"To break up the program, we have a special announcement from the Glory Co. team with us tonight! Let's welcome the YueHua and Naomi to the stage." The host yelled dramatically into the microphone. Two stage lights shone down on us and followed us to the stage. Waiting for us on stage was a mystery box that was covered with a red cloth.

Show time. I sucked in a deep breath. Everyone's eyes were on us right now. I could feel my heart pounding in my rib cage. No matter how many people I was put in front of everyone, stage fright doesn't seem to get any easier.

"Thank you for the introduction. Good evening everyone. My name is YueHua and this is Naomi. Why don't you say hello to everyone, Naomi?"

"Hello everyone." I said and waved.

"I'm here as Naomi's translator because her Chinese isn't the best and can't get some thoughts across." YueHua was a natural on stage. She talked in front of so many people seemed easy as breathing to her. "Naomi, let's talk about what we brought to show everyone here and in front of the television tonight."

"Ah yes. Project Cloud Piercer is complete, and the pre-order date is coming fast. But before we announce the date to everyone, shall we have a quick look at some details on the figure?" I said and pulled the red velvet fabric off the glass case.

YueHua and I chatted casually in front of the audience and camera about important events coming up from Glory Co. First was the official pre-order date of Project Cloud Piercer. Second, was the decision for a second release for another 500 figures of Project Vaccaria due to large amount of fan requests. Lastly, the White Robed Witch's guest appearance at different matches had been confirmed. She would battle a pro-player from the 18 remaining teams in the Pro Alliance this season at each of her appearances. The schedule will be posted on the official website mid-summer break along with the team schedules.

"So Naomi, how are you feeling about having the chance to meet all the teams and fight someone from each team next season? You are living every fan's dream!" YueHua finished the announcement with this one last question.

"I'm only a Glory noob compared to everyone here, so I hope everyone will go easy on me when we meet on stage next season."

"Haha." YueHua, the host, and the rest of the audience all laughed even though I was being completely serious.

The Internet exploded after the announcement, and the program views shot way up. After tonight's announcement, the White Robed Witch's guest appearances in the Pro Alliance became the most anticipated event for next season.

Later in the night, I received two QQ invitations. The first was to join a special QQ chat where all the pro alliance players, current and retired, posted in. The second was just for the females in the pro alliance. This marked my official first step being accepted into the pro scene.

* * *

(1) People say Eggplant in Chinese for the same effect as people say Cheese in the States when getting their pictures taken.

To guest: Yup. Wanted to portray the power of Photoshopping by using makeup. Like the extreme before and after makeup videos on youtube a few years ago.

To Naliyu: tried to make HST princely, but his loud mouth just ruins that image a bit doesn't it lol. Typing his dialog actually makes my hands a bit tired.

A/N: Someone commented on AO3 about YZW seem like the Mom of the team. So I kinda want to share this bit of how I view some of the characters. From what I read, YZW is a super gentle and considerate person who takes care of his team so he is the Mom figure of his team. WJX is considerate but strict with Tiny Herb, so he is like strict dad then? Lolol. Also Old Han must be like the emperor of his team since his words are law and no one dare to defy him.

End of the arc and also the pre-written chapters. Will be taking a month break or so to revise old chapter, reread the light novel, and think about new ideas. Thank you for all support thus far. See you all in the next update!


	29. Summer Vacation

Once the Pro Alliance Season was over, the workload from Glory Co naturally decreased too. It was almost like being paid while on vacation in the office. But hush, don't tell anyone I said that.

Between the short two weeks after awards ceremony, I only had to fix up the rushed paint job on Project Cloud Piercer before official production and to start thinking about Project Desert Dust designs. But at least I didn't have to worry about making any posters, fliers, or anything else for any events because the Alliance was on their 2 months summer break. Yay for slacking! Oops, there I go again.

"I'm taking a 2 week vacation starting 1st of July. I'm not going to take a no for an answer." I made my intentions clear to the company shortly after the awards ceremony.

"Why so suddenly?" Sam answered a bit concerned. It was less than two weeks notice. Getting vacation approved last minute was troublesome with the main company. But the workload right now was fairly light, it should be fine though.

"With Project Cloud Piercer finished, I just think I deserved a small break. I also have to take my brother somewhere. He has to leave Tiny Herb on July 1st after his contract expires."

"Oh. That poor kid from All-Star Weekend. Is he going to be okay?" Lin recalled after wrecking his brain for a little. YiFan was just too invisible. If he wasn't my brother, Lin probably wouldn't remember him at all.

"Yeah. He is working on a new opportunity to come back into the Pro Alliance." I spoke with full confidence.

"I hope to see him make it." Lin nodded in approval.

"Thanks. I'm sure he will. So will you approve my vacation?" I demanded an answer from Sam after getting off track a little.

"Only one week. You need to meet with Captain Han from Tyranny in City Q, and then be back to get ready for WonderFest in Japan end of July. The company wants to have a finished art concept for Desert Dust by then." Sam gave me a counter offer.

"Two weeks." I didn't budge.

"You have to give a little here Naomi. This is how a negotiation works." Sam pleaded.

"Two weeks and I will continue to work on the art concept while on vacation."

"She is dealing with a delicate family situation." Lin said on my behalf.

"Let her do what she wants." Kazumi surprisingly put in a few rare words for me.

"I won't get anywhere with you am I?" Sam signed defeated after hearing everyone else's opinion. "You promise to have the concept art done before WonderFest?"

"Yes. So can I have two week vacation now?"

"No. Ten days, and you have to finish the art concept for Project Desert Dust by the time you are back from City Q. Final offer."

"Deal."

x

On first day of July, I took a taxi to Tiny Herb with a small suitcase in the trunk. I know! I haven't traveled with a suitcase for a while; this felt weird.

Today was the day that YiFan was officially leaving Tiny Herb. During the cab ride, I took note how the city had changed with the seasons. When I first arrived in December, the city looked a bit monochrome with its grey sky and a layer of white snow. Now summer was here, sunshine and color returned to the city. The world was almost too bright for someone like me, who works in a windowless office with only artificial light.

When the taxi arrived in front of Tiny Herb's club, YiFan was not at the gate. I had sent a message to YiFan to let him know I was on my way before I heading over, but it didn't seem to help. Not sure if YiFan was coming out soon, I asked the taxi to wait so I can ask the security guard to make a phone call inside.

"Ah, Naomi. Haven't seen you in a while. How you been?" The security guard recognized me immediately.

"Good morning. I'm here to get YiFan. Can you call inside to get someone to rush him a little? I have a cab waiting."

"Of course. Of course. Sorry to hear about your brother leaving the team." The security guard said apologetically to me before making the phone call. "They said he will be out shortly."

"Thank you." I said before going back to wait, or rather pace, in front of the gate. I just have trouble standing still.

"Sorry! Have you been waiting long, Sis?" YiFan jogged towards me with a suitcase dragged behind him.

"Not too long. Let me help you with that." I grabbed YiFan's suitcase from him.

"No. No. It's alright, Sis. I got it. There is only cloth in there; it is not too heavy." YiFan and I fought over his bag.

"Just toss it into the trunk, Lady. I'm still on the clock. You are the one who is paying you know?" The taxi driver yelled. He decided to give his opinion when he finally got fed up with us siblings. YiFan and I shared an embarrassed look.

As I was about to enter the taxi interior, two figures in the building caught my attention. YingJie stood in front of the double glass entrance, and someone else in front of window on the second floor.

Buzz...Buzz… A message notification popped up on my phone.

[Best of luck to YiFan's future endeavors] Wang JieXi wrote.

Ah, so he was probably the one in front of the window then. I waved to both YingJie and Wang JieXi before getting into the taxi and leaving with YiFan. Then we were on our way to see the god in City H.

x

After a day's train ride from City B to City H, I could barely stand after sitting for so long. After I learned how to walk again like a newborn fawn, YiFan and I took a taxi to a certain Internet café address that Ye Xiu had send to the both of us. Happy Internet Café, I guess that explained why Ye Xiu's guild and team happy were both Happy. As we looked at the big red Internet café sign, YiFan and I had different emotions coursing through us.

YiFan was excited to finally meet the god in person again, to train under him, and to have a second chance to be in the pro scene. I, however, was less happy and optimistic about things. I mean he was taking my cute little brother away from me from City B. I can't meet up with him as easily now.

I also had a lot of doubt and fear in my heart. Ye Xiu had told me of his plan to have his team fight their way through the qualification tournament for a spot in the Pro Alliance in the 10th season. No matter what types of people he had gathered, they would still need to face one or both full pleaded teams that were relegated in the last season: Excellent Era and Mysterious Fantasy. Ye Xiu was no doubt a strong player. However, one or two powerful people don't make a team; he had taught me that in the beginning.

"You ready to start the next chapter of your life?" I asked the grinning teen besides me. Even though I had my doubts, I still had to be the encouraging big sis for YiFan. I was happy to see YiFan excited for something again. Tiny Herb had really dimmed the spirit in him. Maybe it was for the best that he was forced to leave Tiny Herb. This gave the chance to meet up with Ye Xiu and be in an environment that would actually benefit his growth.

"Yes!"

"Let's go in then." Seeing him this happy really brought back old memories when he watched me play Glory years ago. I'm completely biased, but my brother was the cutest! I glomped him on the street for no good reason.

"Ah. Sis, can you let go? People are staring."

"I don't care." I refused to let go.

x

"Hello. Can I help you?" The miss at the front desk looked up from her computer when we entered the café with suitcases.

"Let me see. I was suppose to ask for…" I clicked open the long message Ye Xiu had sent the day before. Who was I suppose to ask for again?

"We are here to see Miss Chen Guo." YiFan supplemented from my side.

Nice save! I gave him a thumb up.

"Oh. Another one? Hold on." She said before calling someone by the name of Little Li over. "Tell Sister Chen she got another two visitors."

"What are your names?" Little Li asked politely.

"Qiao YiFan."

"And his sister. They will figure it out." I said vaguely and didn't give a name. YiFan's name wasn't one that would recognized by Glory fans, but mine was different story. An Internet Café was a dangerous place for me to be nowadays. My popularity might have exploded after the announcements at the awards ceremony.

"Okay. I will let her know." Little Li said before running up to the second floor of the building.

YiFan and I didn't have to wait very long at all when we heard the sound of multiple pairs of feet rushing towards us. YiFan and I looked towards the stairs and saw five figures coming towards us. Besides Ye Xiu that I recognized from the glance I got from All-Star Weekend, I didn't recognize the other four.

"Hi." I greeted casually.

"Hi Senior." YiFan gave a more respectful greeting.

"Ha ha. Brat, not bad! You are very polite!" A man that looked older and even more shaggy than Ye Xiu greeted back. I had to hold my breath because this man was covered in heavy cigarette smoke. YiFan didn't seem to recognize him either. He tensed up when the man stepped closer and gave him two heavy pats on the shoulder.

"Hey, hands off." I quickly pulled YiFan away from the strange man and hid him behind me. YiFan obviously wasn't comfortable with the contact from the random stranger, but he wasn't the type to say anything either. As his guardian, and bestest and only sister, I have to protect him from stranger danger.

"Oh. Who is this beauty?" The old man's eyes lit up and gave me a good look from head to toe that made my skin crawl. I had the urge to give him an uppercut in the chin right now.

"This is JingChun, or Naomi as she is known in the community now." Ye Xiu said in a hush voice. The four people looked unimpressed at me. Should they have heard of me? Was probably what they were thinking. "She is YiFan's sister and the owner of the White Robed Witch. She made those figures for Tiny Herb and Samsara."

"Ohhh." Recognition came from the people behind Ye Xiu after the quick introduction. Everyone who played Glory was familiar with the White Robed Witch and the figures one way or another. They were all big news at one time.

"Don't worry JingChun. He might be the most shameless guy on earth, but he is just a harmless old thing." Thankfully Ye Xiu diffused the situation before I harmed anyone before turning to YiFan again. "Ha, he can be considered your senior too. Wei Chen, heard of him?"

"Hi senior." YiFan stepped out from behind me and quickly greeted the other senior in the group.

"Hahaha, good, good. You have a bright future. This kid has a bright future!" Wei Chen praised and went to pat him again.

"BaoZi, Soft Mist. Your sister won't recognize them but you have already met them in the game." Ye Xiu introduced two more people from their group and the four of us exchanged greetings. BaoZi was a loud mouth who asked for YiFan and my horoscope, but not as loud as the yellow monkey from Blue Rain. Tang Rou, on the complete opposite spectrum, was soft spoken and polite.

"And this is our boss." Ye Xiu introduced their boss, Chen Guo, for last. But her introduction was a bit anticlimactic because there wasn't anything else said besides the few words.

"So you two have arrived? I have already arranged living quarters for you two. Later, Old Wei and BaoZi can bring you over." Chen Guo greeted warmly after a period of short awkward silence.

"Thank you, thank you." YiFan bowed his head quickly to the lady boss and thanked her.

"So, when you told me you already have a place in mind for me, did you mean this?" I knitted my eyebrows together. I wasn't sure how I felt about staying in a place full of strange men, not including YiFan of course.

"Yea. Why pay for a hotel when you can invest more money into our team." Ye Xiu said logically.

"But it's all men there. If you haven't noticed, I'm female."

"Do you look down on them because they are men? There is a thing called gender equality." Ye Xiu really take gender equality to a whole new level it seemed. I almost coughed up blood and kneeled over from Ye Xiu's words. I was going to reserve a hotel when I was in City H, but Ye Xiu told me he already had a place in mind that is close by and free that I could stay at. "It's either a bed at the apartment or couch here. Don't be so picky now."

As I was about to make a smart remark back, more footsteps were heard from the stairs. Three people wearing big flashy sunglasses in the dim Internet café came downstairs.

x

I had to take a double take, but I recognized the three individuals in sunglasses. I admit sometimes I had bad memories, but these three I had seen at the awards ceremony only two weeks ago. I knew being in an Internet café was dangerous for famous players like Sun Xiang and Xiao ShiQin, and protecting their identity was a must. However in my opinion wearing sunglasses in an already dim room probably drew more attention to themselves than away.

"Senior Xiao ShiQin? Senior Sun Xiang? Hello…" YiFan greeted innocently that made me laugh. He just unknowingly added more wood to the fiery situation.

"Good job YiFan!" I praised the boy. Oh wait, if Glory fans was rushing over then I was in trouble too!

Just as I had predicted, in a blink of an eye, all of the Glory fans in the café all recognized the three and rushed over. Ye Xiu quickly stepped over to my side, hid my face in his shirt, and pulled me out of the building. The rest of the group followed us out of the building. I struggled on the way out because he smelled of smoke and I couldn't see where I was going with my face in his shirt.

"You smell of smoke. It's gross." I attempted to push Ye Xiu away. I disliked the smell of cigarette smoke a lot. This stemmed from the fact that I had to live with second hand smoke while growing up. Smoking was harmful to the user and the people around them. It was a lose-lose situation.

"Stay behind me." Ye Xiu ordered as he used his body to shield me from anyone who happened to glance over in our direction for some reason.

"What a pity. They are Ray Bans too. They are ruined now." Tang Rou pitied a pair of sunglasses that was kicked over.

"Should we go over to Excellent Era and call security over?" Ye Xiu suggested but didn't make any attempt to actually help.

"Why help them? I think they deserve what they got. They were here to spy on you guys anyways right?" I peeked from the behind Ye Xiu and expressed my joy of the trio's disaster openly. "Good job YiFan!" I gave my brother two thumbs up.

"Sis! I…I…" YiFan stuttered. Poor kid looked like he was on the verge of tears and was probably mortified on the inside. He didn't know a simple respectful greet could turn out this way.

"I knew you had a bright future ahead of you!" Wei Chen also praised and laughed.

x

After the sunglasses flew out of the crowd of rabid fans, a disheveled chucky figure was tossed out shortly after. The Excellent Era's boss looked like he was pushed and shoved, and then trampled by the fans on his way out of the crowd. Actually, that was probably exactly what happened to him. I smiled in delight. He didn't look like a good person from my first impression of him at the awards ceremony.

Tao Xuan watched the mess for a little while and then retreated back to his club to get security. When he returned, Chen Guo went over and engaged the old fat fox in a battle of words. No matter was said, Boss Chen Guo would profit from this either way.

"This little brother of your is sure great!" Wei Chen said with an approving nod.

"I know! Isn't he the best? You two old guys better take good care of him." I gushed.

"Hey, hey. I'm not that old. Can you not group me together with him? I feel a bit offended." Ye Xiu commented.

"I…I…" YiFan's brain was still stuck in his panicked state.

Once I deemed Wei Chen was indeed a harmless man with a bad case of nicotine and Glory addiction, I found him pretty easy to talk. He was straightforward with his words and was a bit like Ye Xiu but even more thuggish and underhanded. I was actually very impressed to know someone who was more shameless than Ye Xiu!

"It looks like they finally left." Wei Chen commented as we watched everyone from Excellent Era retreat back into their little stone castle. It delighted me to no end to see all their drained faces as they scurried away.

"I have a private room booked for a welcoming dinner." Chen Guo said once she made sure everything was back to normal in her Internet Café and everyone paid their bills.

"You are so generous Boss Chen! I feel so much better to know YiFan will be under your care from now on."

"Of course! Thank you for your monthly investment."

"It isn't much."

"No, no. Every cent helps. If it wasn't for your investment, getting the current two floor apartment for the players would have been difficult"

Chen Guo and I exchanged polite words and laughed while walking to the restaurant.

In the end, I ended up staying at the apartment suite with YiFan, BaoZi, and Wei Chen. Seeing that I had already paid for part of the suite that Chen Guo was really happy with, I decided to might as sleep on a nice bed there.

Chen Guo also promised me multiple times that there were many empty bedrooms available and a private bathroom that I could use. If any issue occurs, I just need to let her know and she would fix it. I like how straightforward Sister Chen was – she insisted that I called her that instead of Boss Chen. From my initial expression of Ye Xiu's teammates, I decided that I liked them, and YiFan would go a long way with them.

* * *

A/N: Hi everyone~ I'm back and re-energized with a few new pre-written chapters. Did you guys miss me at all? I got bored while taking a break so decided to start posting early ahahaha. Right now in the story is summer. Summer means vacation, romance, and fun! Hope you guys enjoy!


	30. It's a Wild Boss!

When morning arrived, I woke up bright and early to get some sketch time in. Designing a figure pose for Desert Dust was not as challenging as for the previous two projects just because I already knew both Han WenQing and his Desert Dust fairly well. I already had a clear image of Desert Dust in mid-step punching his way forwards with a fiery Emperor's Fist. I decided to sketch up a few more poses that suited Desert Dust as well so I wasn't putting all my eggs in one basket.

When I finished drawing down the rough body pose for the first pose, the boys of the house all started to wake up one by one. I was surprised that they were all actually waking up at a reasonable time. Once everyone was awake, the once quiet house became rowdy with Wei Chen and BaoZi's shouting at each other. A knock then came from the door.

"It's unlocked." I yelled as I packed up my sketchbook and art supplies back into my art bag. I decided this was probably all the work I could get done for the day.

"Sis. We are having breakfast downstairs." YiFan opened the door, but didn't step in.

"Okay, let's go together." I linked arm with YiFan as we headed downstairs together.

x

"Morning XiaoWang, Xiao Qiao. I wasn't sure what you two liked, so I picked up a bit of everything just in case. There are meat buns, youtiao, soymilk, breakfast crepes (1), and tea leaf eggs. Eat what you like." Wei Chen waved YiFan and I to the table. He actually seemed pretty considerate at times.

"Ahaha. Breakfast is really nice this morning!" BaoZi yelled before grabbing things and stuff his face.

"Hey. Where are your manners, Brat! XiaoWang, Xiao Qiao you both should eat before BaoZi eats everything up." Wei Chen scowled, but the other party wasn't paying attention at all.

"Thank you, senior."

"Thank you for this lavishing breakfast."

YiFan and I thanked Wei Chen together. Hearing what BaoZi had said, I figured that Wei Chen most likely went out of his way to get so much stuff.

"Ahahaha. No worries. Now eat, eat!" Wei Chen said in a good mood before digging in too.

x

After everyone ate their fill, nothing was left. It was also time to head to the Internet Café to start out the day of training for the boys. With nothing to do at the apartment by myself, I followed the three to Happy. I brought my sketchbook and art supplies along just in case, but I doubt Ye Xiu would let free labor pass so easily. Although, it wouldn't be too bad if he could train me a little too.

When we got there, Wei Chen and BaoZi settled into their seats. YiFan and I stood by Ye Xiu as he explained the team situation to both of us. I was an investor so I guess it was important for me to know the condition of the team to. Then he gave a guide to YiFan and I to work when there were no wild bosses to fight over.

"Help your sister out too. Her reading skill and comprehending skills are grade level at best. Make sure she doesn't mess up a step." Ouch, Ye Xiu. Thanks for your vote of confidence.

After Ye Xiu gave us our assignments to do in game, YiFan and I settled to computer next each. Sister Chen quickly came to talk to me, and asked if I any problems last night at the apartment.

"Everything was great. The place is beautiful. You have great eyes for good real estate." I complimented.

"Ahaha. I'm glad you approve. Xiao Tang helped too!" Sister Chen said happily. I exchanged a nod with Tang Rou across the room.

x

While Sister Chen and I chatted, we hear Ye Xiu and Wei Chen talk about materials and upgrades. Soon, we all left our seats to watch Wei Chen painstakingly shape some type of material for his silver weapon upgrade. We all held our breath for him while he concentrated on his screen.

While watching Wei Chen work delicately with the in game tools like a surgeon, I was super grateful that my silver equipment don't have to be upgraded in the same way. I would ruined the special set for sure if I attempted anything like this.

After Wei Chen finished with the first part, he let out a long breath he was holding. Feeling like he was being watched, he looked behind him and jumped at the sight of everyone behind him.

"Not bad. It's a good start!" Ye Xiu praised after Wei Chen finished crafting the first part.

"BS (废话) (2)! You don't say. All of you go do whatever you should be doing. Don't stand around and watch." Wei Chen yelled.

"We are just giving you an excuse if you happen to mess up. If you mess up, you can just blame us for distracting you." Ye Xiu said.

"Pei(呸), pei, pei (3)! Can't you say anything nice? Hurry up and go smoke outside. You are ruining the atmosphere in the room." Wei Chen spat.

"Heh." Ye Xiu laughed and told everyone to go back to their own training.

After doing quests for skill book with YiFan for a while, Ye Xiu and Wei Chen started chatting again. It seemed like Wei Chen was ready to reassemble his silver weapon. Everyone went to watch and this time Wei Chen didn't tell us to leave.

"SUCCESS!" Wei Chen exclaimed when he put his weapon back together and looked at the stats.

"That's it?" Chen Guo said as one point. She voiced my own thoughts.

I was happy for Wei Chen. But his weapon didn't look too different. By just plainly looking at the stats, I couldn't tell if the weapon was godly or anything. I wasn't familiar with Glory and weapon stats to know those things. Wei Chen went to the arena to try out his weapon shortly afterwards. From the shouts that could be heard, it seemed like he enjoyed bullying the normal players a lot with his new toy.

x

YiFan and I returned to the quests in the guide that Ye Xiu gave us. Quest by quest, I earned a little more skill points. Ye Xiu came over once to check up on our progress. I was luckier and had already received 95 skill points from the quests versus 70 points that YiFan received from the same quests.

"Your luck isn't bad." Ye Xiu commented when I shared the results of the quests with him.

I continued to do quest after quest until Ye Xiu gathered everyone for a wild boss at the Scarlet Cloud Taoist Rite sometime in the afternoon.

"Where is that?" I couldn't help but ask out loud. Everyone seemed already knew where to meet and was heading to the map already.

"ShaBaiBai (傻白白), have you even entered the Heavenly Domain yet?" Ye Xiu changed my nickname to something even more embarrassing.

"No, there wasn't a need to. Besides, I wanted YiFan to be present when I do."

"Well he is here now. YiFan show her the way."

"Yes, senior." YiFan said obediently.

"You are breaking my heart. Don't side with him, YiFan." I pouted at the traitor, at least he was cute.

My big entrance into Heavenly Domain went down the drain because of a stupid wild boss.

x

Sand, sand, and ruins in sand was the first scene I saw when I entered the awesome great Heavenly Domain. I wasn't too impressed. Heavenly Domain didn't look any different to me than the normal servers. I'm sure it was a big deal since the game put my name on 'TV'. Many players send me greetings on TV. It was good that I still had my private message, and friend request turned off. I could imagine I might have been frozen in the game due to the massive amount of message I would receive otherwise.

If there weren't currently two wild bosses to be bought over by the guilds, I'm sure more people would have noticed and send greetings. But all those greetings didn't matter to me one bit, there was only person I cared to hear from.

"Congrats, Sis." YiFan smiled next to me.

"Thanks!" I glomped YiFan. My brother's opinion was the only one I cared about. All the waiting was worth it for this moment.

YiFan's One Inch Ash quickly came to get me in the random map I was tossed into. His character was just as adorable as him. I know I was biased.

"Let's hurry. We are the most far away." YiFan said as he led the way.

Even without YiFan instructing me, I could easily keep up with his character after doing probably the same training modules as him at Tiny Herb. I have the basics down, but basics were all the time I had to learn at Tiny Herb. Everything else, I had to build from the solid foundation up from trial and error, and other's feedback.

"Senior says to meet up at this location."

"Okay."

x

When we arrived at the scene, there was a sea of players circling what I could assume to be the boss. From the guild labels, there were people from at least 9 different guilds: Blue Brook Guild, Tyrannical Ambition, Samsara, Seaside, Conquering Cloud, Radiant, Parade, Heavenly Justice, and the guild with the least number of people of them all, Happy.

"So this is what a fight over the wild boss is like." I commented as YiFan and I made our way through Heavenly Justice's players to meet up with Ye Xiu and the guild leaders in the front. The troops seemed to recognize YiFan and made way for him and I.

"About time XiaoBaiBai, we were going to start without you." Ye Xiu simply said when I arrived with One Inch Ash, and then added an afterthought. "Oh and if you ever see a guy name Deception, kill him. He like to steal rare gears when people die."

"What did he ever do to you?"

"He stole my stuff."

"Really? From you? Somehow I really doubt anyone could." I voice my doubt out loud but Ye Xiu just ignored it.

The four guild masters glanced over to see who was the new person in god Ye Xiu's group and had to do a double take. Did they read the character name right? The White Robed Witch. That's exactly what the four characters read, but they still couldn't believe it! How did god even have power to have the untraceable goddess join them? Ye Xiu was truly a god among gods.

"We have come to greet the Goddess." All four of the guild master quickly greeted me through voice chat.

"Nice to meet you all. Just call me XiaoBai. Please take care of me for the time being." I replied politely.

x

From the front, I could see players from Tyrannical Ambition split into two groups, one to attack the boss and the other to block our groups off. It was a bit impressive seeing how so many people could move in unison. Then the four troops on our side started moving according to Ye Xiu's orders. They move, we move, but it didn't seem like our side was going to gain the upper hand. At this rate, we would not be able to breakthrough before Tyrannical Ambition killed the boss.

"BaoZi, Little Tang, Little Qiao, Little Hands, Loulan Slash, Little Bei, Ocean, Night Tide, Thousand Leaves, come with me!" Ye Xiu quickly hand picked a few players to confront the enemy more up close and personal.

"What about me!" Chen Guo yelled through the mic.

"Uh…a team can only have a max of ten people…" Ye Xiu explained to Chen Guo.

"You can just follow us." Ye Xiu finally after some pleading on Chen Guo's end. "XiaoBaiBai, did you want to come along too?"

"Should I?" I asked when I was suddenly called out.

"You can follow our lead. Your silver equipment won't drop even if you die anyways right?"

"…" His shameless reasoning left me speechless. "I will sit this one out thanks…" Sure there were three cleric going. But since I won't be part of the group, I wouldn't receive any heal them. One versus a hundred players; there was no way I would survive the fray. Even a single pro couldn't face 100 players alone.

"Then support us with long range attacks. Someone add her to their guild." Ye Xiu ordered before heading out with his hand picked team.

"Goddess, would you like to join our guild group for the time being?" The guild master of Parade asked and sent over a party request first, which I accepted. I knew I had to be someone's guild if I wanted to be part of their 100 member group.

If gaming character could display expressions, I was sure everyone from the other guilds were glaring at Parade out of jealousy for his slightly faster invite. But wasn't really a big deal at all. It didn't matter which guild I joined at the moment since it was just a temporary thing.

A mass amount of greetings flooded my chat when Parade's player saw my name in the guild announcement.

[Nice to meet you all. Hope we will successfully steal this boss! Let's work hard together.] I typed a simple response to all of the greetings. As if my words were a power up item, Parade's players seemed all fired up.

x

[Attack!] The order suddenly came in the guild chat.

All the guild masters seemed to command at the same time. I rushed towards Tyrannical Ambition's troops with Parade's elementalist.

[Long-range attackers attack Tyranny's troops now so God's team can breakthrough their defenses!] Martial Awareness, Parade's guild master, ordered.

Even when the White Robed Witch started casting at the same time and attacked from the same place as everyone else, my Heavenly Lightning Earthen Fire landed at least 2 seconds before anyone else into enemy territory.

"OMG!?"

I didn't really understand the significance of the 2 seconds. But everyone's jaw dropped in awe.

"Sh*t." Wei Chen, who had been super happy about his own Death Hand's upgrade moments before, couldn't help but whisper out loud when he glanced over at Ye Xiu's screen.

"Good timing!" Ye Xiu yelled out loud in the practice room.

With a combination of Chasing Haze's Satellite Beam and my Heavenly Lightning Earthen Fire, following with the rest of long-range attacks, Ye Xiu's team broke into enemy camp and started to kill players left and right to try to disturb the enemy's defenses. But the rest of the troops still couldn't break through Tyrannical Ambition's defenses. Ye Xiu's 10-player team was completely ignored and ineffective!

The more time Ye Xiu spent in enemy territory, even I could tell whatever he was trying to do wasn't working. The enemy defense was too strong; his team just couldn't dish out enough damage to turn this battle around.

Just as things were looking direr, a sword master from Blue Brook's Guild entered the fray too and turned things around for the guide alliance. Soon, the boss was enraged and killed a bunch of players that surrounded him. Tyrannical Ambition's formation was finally broken.

x

I rushed through enemy defenses along with the rest of the four guild troops to get to the boss. It was now our turn to form a wall to keep Tyrannical Ambition's away from the boss. In the back of my mind, I did feel bad for the kid, Flowing Cloud. From the part of conversation I heard out of Ye Xiu's mouth in the training room, I knew the kid was tricked by Ye Xiu into enraged the boss and then sacrificed. Even though I was currently on the same team as Ye Xiu, I still had to say Ye Xiu was too ruthless towards a kid. I hoped the kid wouldn't be scarred for life after meeting this guy.

"Give us our boss back!" Many of the Tyrannical Ambition's yelled annoying one after another.

"Che. There was no you or mine when it came to wild bosses. Wild bosses were meant to be fought over. Only the strongest guild in the end will get the boss." Some players from the guild alliance yelled back.

[Leader! They are breaking through.] Some of Parade's players in the front reported to their guild leader, Martial Awareness.

Not even a second after they finished typing their sentence, a well place Ice Wall and Blizzard blocked the advancement of the enemy troop through the crack in our defense.

[Make way.] I typed in chat and players in front of me made way for me.

White Robed Witched lunged forward with Dragon Breaks the Ranks and broke the Ice Wall that I had casted moments before. I followed up the lunge attack with Tyrant's Destruction and Falling Flower Palm to send the enemies who made through flying back to their side. Satisfied with my work, I teleported backwards so the Knights and Paladins could rush in and repair the body of walls.

Sure, I could repair one small crack or two, but there were just too many small cracks in our defenses. Then through the small defense, a player from Blue Brook Guild charged in.

"I came to get my revenge!" Flowing Cloud yelled as he ran past me towards Ye Xiu. After I saw Flowing Cloud ran past me, I noticed there was someone by the name Blue Bridge Spring Snow following the first Blademaster. Not good, there were actually two Blue Brook Guild intruders.

Enlightened Lord was only a poorly equipped Cleric. Without help, even the god might die. Ye Xiu must knew this well too because he had Enlightened Lord dodge Flowing Cloud's initial attack, but Flowing Cloud immediately followed up with a second attack. At this time, the second Blademaster came for Ye Xiu's head too.

Clank!

"You are not getting through." I said to the second Blademaster.

Not if I could help it! Flowing Cloud managed to reach Ye Xiu because he was too fast for me, but Ye Xiu was able to dodge in time. I met Blue Bridge Spring Snow's attack with Dragon Tooth. I stood between Blue Bridge Spring Snow and Ye Xiu like a wall.

"Eh? It's you. You are leading again this time?" At that moment, Ye Xiu noticed the name on the second intruder.

"You are too shameless. You tricked Little Lu." The other side yelled.

x

I quietly fought with the Blue Bridge Spring Snow as Ye Xiu lectured him about teamwork. I still wouldn't let this Blademaster get pass me to fight Ye Xiu's crappy cleric 2-vs-1. From the way the two talked, it seemed like they knew each other.

Before long, the surrounding alliance players ran to defend Enlightened Lord also. But they were no match for Flowing Cloud. With a few strikes, Flowing Cloud sent many players flying.

"Out of my way, battle mage!" Blue Bridge Spring Snow yelled and finally successfully sidestepped me to chase after Enlightened Lord with Flowing Cloud.

"AoE Attacks!" Enlightened Lord yelled as he ran through the crowd. I lead the onslaught of AoE attacks with my Heavenly Lightning Earthen Fire towards the two blademaster.

Lightning and fire danced together, completely swallowing up Flowing Cloud and Blue Bridge Spring Snow. Soon after many other elementalist attacks were mixed in too. Our attacks seemed to heavily damaged Blue Bridge Spring Snow, but Flowing Cloud escaped most of the blast by creating six perfect images with Shadow Steps.

Blue Bridge Spring Snow was heavily damaged, but not yet dead. I teleported in front of him when he tried to catch up with his partner in crime.

"What the?" He seemed surprised that a 'battle mage' used Heavenly Lightning Earthen Fire and Teleport. What was going on? Hacker?

"Sorry to disappoint, but I'm not a battle mage." I said as I finished off the rest of his health off with a Piercing Lightning into the chest.

"You are the-" Whatever Blue Bridge Spring Snow wanted to say was cut off when he died.

Shortly after I killed Blue Bridge Spring Snow, Flowing Cloud was killed too. With the intruders gone, the alliances focused all their forces on the boss again.

x

"Disperse!" Ye Xiu warned as the boss, Red Ribbon Janna, approached red blood. Everyone surrounding the boss ran away except one brave knight from our side.

The knight ran towards Tyrannical Ambition's side and used Provoke. Then, he jumped deep into enemy's troop with Heroic Leap, leading the wild boss straight into enemy territory. No one on the alliance side needed any instructions for what to do next. All long-range attackers bombarded Red Ribbon Janna with their most powerful attacks.

The enraged bossed tore apart the Tyrannical Ambition's troops. I grimaced at the slight of player being send into the sky with the boss's powerful smash and being killed with the powerful spin attack. After the dust settled, I saw Enlightened Lord seemed to be waving at someone.

"Who you waving at?" Curious, I teleported next to him to see. There were a few people in a distance, none I could recognize though. But for the heck of it, I also waved in the general direction Ye Xiu was waving at.

"Thanks, Vice Captain Zhang! Tell Old Han his old friends said hi!" He yelled at someone across the battlefield.

"You're welcome." To my surprise, someone across the field actually replied.

"The commander for the other team was Tyranny's Vice Captain. Isn't he also a Master Technician? Who is better. You or him?"

"Who do you think? We won didn't we?" Ye Xiu answered arrogantly.

"This seemed more like a fluke."

"Whose side are you on?"

"I'm a neutral party."I shrugged.

x

After Tyrannical Ambition was defeated, taking down the level 55 wild boss was actually pretty easy. The troop leaders disturbed the drops between themselves. Seeing how today's events has ended, I left Parade without another thought. Parade's players were sad to see me leave, but they all knew our partnership wouldn't last either.

When the wild boss fell, I let out a high pitched sneezed without any warning and felt a chill down my spine. Everyone in the room looked at me startled.

"What was that?" Ye Xiu asked a bit concerned for once.

"I don't know. My nose suddenly itched and I felt a chill."

"If you are getting sick, then get out. Don't get everyone here sick." Ye Xiu waved a hand in front of his face as if to get rid of a fly or something.

"How would I get sick in this weather." I glared at the accusation.

"Oh. Then it's probably that guy found out you helped me in game. You know his temper."

"Probably." I had a feeling that I would get an earful from the Old Man sooner or later. Let's hope that it would be later and maybe he will even forget about it. Oh wait, I was the one with the bad memory, not him. I will have to try to think of a way to get out of this if it ever comes up. Maybe I can play innocent and say I don't remember this week and half ever happened.

* * *

(1) Not french crepes. These are savory Chinese breakfast crepes.

(2) No good direct translation. It kind of like nonsense or saying useless words (literal translation/meaning)? I put BS in there because it felt like a closer fit.

(3) Sounds of spiting

* * *

To guest: Maybe not direct/obvious romance. But there will be many chapters coming up that might be considered romantic depending how you interrupt the words and actions of the character, and if you squint at the words ahaha. :)

* * *

A/N: Happy 4/1 and Easter! I have finally decided on the final pairing for TWRW and it is...drum roll please...!

x

x

x

Naomi x Wei Chen! :D

Naomi & Wei Chen: Wait. What?!

Wei Chen: Heh. This isn't bad. (Nods to self)

Naomi: WTF?! You serious? There is no way this would ever work out in any form or way. If you do this, I quit!

Miss C: (gets KOed by bricks)

-The End-

* * *

Ahaha. I'm just kidding guys. Happy 4/1, April fool's day. Hope that was a good joke =)

As of current, I'm still keeping Naomi x friendship everyone. No solid pairing plans yet, but think I might tinker around with a few possible pairings in the future to see which one works out better. For now, there will be a few near the future chapters with possible romance suggested material depending how you interrupt the content/character intent. Leave me questions, feedback, and suggestion if you like and I will answer in the next chapter. I will see you all in the next update!


	31. Putting the Spy to Work

After the the guild alliance dispersed after the fight for Red Ribbon Janna, YiFan and I went back to questing for skill points. Just as we were finishing up a quest, a knock sounded from the door. Chen Guo went to open the door and yelled in surprise. I looked over and saw three people there: a café employee, the tall guy with glasses from Excellent Era that was here yesterday, and Su MuCheng.

"You are here?" Ye Xiu greeted Su MuCheng first.

"I'm finally vacation!" Su MuCheng happily replied and skipped her way to Ye Xiu.

"Ah, Little SuSu." I waved at Su MuCheng from my computer.

"Ah Wang JieJie (older sister Wang) is here too?" SuSu then skipped over to me to chat.

"I'm on vacation too." I replied.

"Why are you addressing each other that way? You two are probably the same age."

"Really?" Su MuCheng and I looked at each other. It was really hard to tell a person's age by just appearances, especially with girls. Sometimes a young looking kid could be in her 30s and an older looking woman could be in her early 20s. I had assumed the Su MuCheng was at least a year or two younger than me because she looked so youthful compared to myself.

"Su JieJie! (older sister Su)" I called dramatically.

"Wang MeiMei! (younger sister Wang)" Su MuCheng returned my greeting in the same play tone.

"Haha." Su MuCheng an I shared a laugh when we saw the eye roll from Ye Xiu's direction.

Su MuCheng and I joked around more as Ye Xiu went to address the other person that came from the place across the road. Ye Xiu saw right through Xiao ShiQin's intentions to spy on the team, but went along with it anyways.

x

"Little Xiao, come and sit. I'm upgrading my silver weapon." Ye Xiu taunted the spy at one point.

If Xiao ShiQin seemed surprised, he hid it well. He was well manner enough to not actually shameless walk over and watch when Ye Xiu invited. Instead, he walked towards behind the rest of the players to see what they were doing on screen.

"We met two weeks ago, right?" Xiao ShiQin asked when he was behind me.

"Yup, at the awards ceremony. I'm Naomi from Glory Co." I extended a hand his way.

"Xiao ShiQin." He noticed the social cue, and we shook hands.

"What brings you here?" He couldn't help to ask.

"Vacation." I smiled pleasantly.

"Oh." Xiao ShiQin said before walking away to look at other people's screens.

"What are you looking at?!" BaoZi glared in Xiao ShiQin's direction and jumped up to cover his computer screen with his whole body. Chen Guo and I shared a look and shrugged at each other. We both were at a loss as to what BaoZi was hiding or making a big fuss about. If anything, shouldn't YiFan and I be hiding our screens instead since we were doing quests from the team's research guide?

In the end, the poor spy went back sitting stiffly and awkwardly on the sofa in the room.

"I will be right back, Sis." YiFan said to me quietly before standing up.

My eyes followed YiFan's figure. I wondered what the kid was up to. Did he have the gut to confront the spy and ask him to leave? I thought excited. Then I watched YiFan walked to the water dispense and filled a cup for Xiao ShiQi.

"Senior, have a cup of water." YiFan said and place the cup in front of the other man. I almost lost my balance and fell out of my seat. I didn't know if I should laugh or cry.

"You okay?" SuSu glanced my way.

"Haha, yea." I wasn't sure if this kid was just this polite or he has been a water dispenser boy at Tiny Herb for too long. I made a mental note to have Ye Xiu correct this issue as soon as possible. My brother have a lot of potential that shouldn't be wasted on pouring water for the team.

After delivering the cup of water, YiFan returned to his seat next to me, and we continued to do the quests on the list.

x

After about half an hour of awkward silence in the room, Ye Xiu finally broke it.

"It's a success." He stated after finishing upgrading his weapon.

Everyone around the room said a few words of congratulation before returning back to whatever we were doing in game beforehand. Ye Xiu walked over to where Xiao ShiQin sat to chat. After some psychological warfare between the two master technicians, Chen Guo yelled, "Something has come up!" Another wild boss had spawned this afternoon.

"Gather! Gather!" Ye Xiu yelled to everyone in the room, including Xiao ShiQin who came to spy. "Little Xiao, since you don't have anything else to do. Why not come and lend us a hand."

In the end, Xiao ShiQin agreed to come and was given a random mechanic account. Ye Xiu led two guilds and Xiao ShiQin led the other two guilds. All of the Happy members followed Ye Xiu's lead while I was stuck with Xiao ShiQin's side.

Logically, I completely understood why Ye Xiu did that. It was to hide his team member potentials and skills from the enemy in the room. But, "I want to play with YiFan!" I complained at one point and was denied by Ye Xiu right away. He told me to stay with the other two guild to even out the strength of the two sides. I pouted as I marched with the rest of the characters into battle; I felt like a consolation prize for the other two guilds for some reason.

"Next time, next time." Ye Xiu waved me off without a glance. YiFan gave me a pat on the back.

x

When the battle started, my side attacked Tyrannical Ambition from the right side. As expected, their forces started to shift their attention to us. Then Ye Qiu and Su MuCheng ruthlessly attacked from the left. Tyrannical Ambition's main forces then started to shift left. But, they weren't careless either. Zhang XinJie send out two small teams to handle things on the 'weaker' side.

"Act weak." Xiao ShiQin commanded. He let the two teams charge easily into our ranks.

"Now!" Xiao ShiQin yelled. The two split open group quickly clamped the enemy off from the their main team.

Not deep enough, I noted. The enemy tried to fight their way out back to rejoin their main forces when they figured out our trap. Nice try, but like we would give you that chance, ha!

I used Heavenly Lightning right in the middle of the surrounded enemy force. Everyone followed suit and attacked the Tyrannical Ambition's player until most of they turned into corpses. There were few that almost pushed their way back, but then they were met with Ice Walls along the way.

"Going somewhere?" I teleported in front of a small group of people who almost made it back out. "We welcomed you in with open arms, so don't even think about leaving!"

"You are the White Robed Witch! Why are you with them?!" The enemy immediately recognized my character name.

"For fun :)" I send a reply with smiley face before obliterating the small team. I was starting to understand why Ye Xiu used that emoji all the time now. It was fun to taunt your opponents.

I casted Magic Prison to seal off their skills, and then teleported into front of the group. In a blink of an eye, the White Robed Witch flipped her staff to the spear end and dropped low to the ground to use Tyrant's Destruction to knock the opponents into the air. With a blast from Falling Flower Palm, the small group was sent flying even deeper into the group where only death awaited them. In only a few minutes, one of the Tyrannical Ambition teams was completely annihilated and the other team only made it back with a few members in critical condition.

Just as we made great progress of thinning out the enemy forces, Tyrannical Ambition's commander realized something and pulled his split forces back into one. For a while, the alliance couldn't break through Tyrannical Ambition's combined forces.

They move, we move. We move, they move. Any openings the two Master Technicians on our side saw were quickly fixed by the other side. The wild boss was currently with Tyrannical Ambition; they were stalling for time to kill it. Unless the two Glory Gods figure out something, we would run out of time soon.

x

Just as things looked grim, Samsara – the guild – showed up and charged into battle all of a sudden. This was exactly what we needed. The power balance between the groups began to shift. Tyrannical Ambition's forces tried to make some complex adjustment to account for the new guild that entered the fray. However, there were just too many people for one person to control. Tyrannical Ambition's side ended up just looking like the players stepping on and tripping over each other as they ran around. They left many openings for the guild alliance and Samsara to take advantages of.

As a last desperate measure, Tyrannical Ambition seemed to toss the boss out in the opening for the alliance and Samsara to fight over. Quickly, Heavenly Justice rushed over and quickly gobbled up the boss. Samsara gave a chase, but was ultimate beaten up.

Tyrannical Ambition was gloomy! The situation wasn't how Tyrannical Ambition hoped to go at all! They quickly tried to chase after the boss, but the two guilds, Xiao ShiQin, and I quickly blocked them off. As if seeing a good opportunity, Samsara headed our way too. Hm…might be difficult if those two big guilds joined forces. I thought as I prepared for the worst.

"It's fine. Let Samsara through." Ye Xiu said to Xiao ShiQin and I. I was a bit surprised, but obeyed.

When Samsara saw that Parade and Radiance just let them pass through without a fight, they of course ran after the boss as quickly as possible.

"Ahaha. They must be so gloomy!" I laughed out loud. I could only guess how Tyrannical Ambition's players felt at this moment. But they shouldn't be too disappointed because we only let Samsara through so Ye Xiu's side could separate the two guilds and tear them apart.

Not long, we got message that Samsara's forces were all killed. Xiao ShiQin quickly ordered the two guilds to join up with Ye Xiu's side. Tyrannical Ambition chased, then Blue Brook Guild tried their luck too. But in the end, the guild alliance killed the wild boss without too much issue.

"…I'm going out for a smoke." Wei Chen announced after he watched what drops had been picked up on Ye Xiu's screen.

"What's going on with him?" I asked after Wei Chen left the room.

"He is just excited, that's all." Ye Xiu said nonchalantly.

What's a weird way to be excited. I thought as I looked at the closed door.

Feeling like he wouldn't gain anything to stay any longer, Xiao ShiQin also got up and left the room after the battle shortly after. After more teasing and taunts from Ye Xiu naturally.

x

After waiting for more than 30 minutes of nerve wrecking silence, Wei Chen finally came back to the practice room from upgrading his weapon in a private room. He looked smug so it must have been a success, right?

"Was it a success?" Chen Guo asked the question on everyone's mind.

"Hmph. Of course." Wei Chen announced arrogantly. You could almost see the guy's nose grow longer as he bragged. Everyone in the room seemed to let out a breath that we all had unknowingly held for him. "Take a look!" Wei Chen tossed his account card on the table like it was nothing.

Chen Guo made the first move to grab it and inserted into the computer. Some people went to look, but I didn't. I didn't understand too much of the stats based on numbers anyways. To the side, Ye Xiu and Wei Chen talked about some Glory stuff too deep for me to understand.

"Men and their toys." I muttered while I did my quests.

"Yup." Su MuCheng, who came to talk to me more after a quick glance at the level 70 Death's Hand, giggled. "Do you have a bit of time before you leave?"

"Yea. It seemed like they just have decided to have everyone on the team to become vampires for the next two month. I won't be able to do it for a week then switch back. It's rough to have a regular job with regular hours." I said in a sarcastic tone, which made SuSu laugh again.

"If you get bored by yoursekf, did you want to visit my brother?"

"I did promise I would if I ever came to City H, right?"

"I might not be able to go with you this time, but I will message you where he is at."

"Sure."

SuSu and I shared a heartwarming moment.

"Hey, Xiao Qiao's sister. Let's PK in the arena together. I have been curious about your silver equipment stats for a while!" Wei Chen just had to yell and totally ruined the moment.

"I have a name you know! It's Naomi." I yelled crankily.

"I'm not good with English names, so forget it." Wei Chen waved me off.

"Ugh! I'm going to teach you a lesson or two. You better be prepared. Let's go!"


	32. A Boring Afternoon

A/N: A follow up chapter to yesterday's slow transition chapter. Wasn't personally too happy with yesterday's chapter so hope today's will make up for it.

* * *

Wei Chen and I fought about six times in the arena. By the end of the sixth match, we both knew who was the clear victor. We each won three rounds. He had better skill and tactics; I had better overall equipment and luck. So in the end, it was my complete loss. The results made Wei Chen even more satisfied with the results of his upgrade than before.

After the bit of excitement, the team decided to take a nap until nighttime. Ye Xiu ordered everyone to flip their night and day. The team would from now sleep during the day and hunt wild bosses at night. Tyrannical Ambition's troublesome commander, Zhang XinJie had a strict sleeping schedule so the guild alliance would take advantage of that. Even Ye Xiu had trouble dealing with another master technician. But he childishly denied the fact when I asked. "Do I look like I'm scared of him." He humphed at my ridiculous accusation.

It was fine and dandy for them, but flipping my sleeping schedule was hard for me. The question I now faced was do I stay or do I go? YiFan already got up and headed back to the apartment with BaoZi. Chen Guo, SuSu, and Tang Rou already went to wash up in the loft down the hallway. The only ones left in the room were Wei Chen, Ye Xiu, and I.

"XiaoBai, do you mind if we take a look at the stats on your equipment?" Ye Xiu asked once everyone else left. "He really wanted to compare your silver weapon with his Death's Hand but is embarrassed to ask."

"Pffhh. Che. Who said I was embarrassed to ask!" Wei Chen immediately objected at Ye Xiu's statement.

"I don't mind. I can't tell if these stats are good or not anyways." I handed the two experts my account card.

"Then, I will help myself!" Wei Chen said excitedly and inserted my account card into Ye Xiu's computer so he could compare the stats side by side. I squeezed in between the two men to get a better view on both screens.

"Oh. So your silver weapon is only like this. Not too different." Wei Chen nodded to himself contently after a glance. From a glance, I agreed with Wei Chen's statement too. My hybrid weapon might even be a little lacking compared to Death's Hand.

"Don't you have eyes, her weapon is superior than your crap stick." Ye Xiu interjected. Both Wei Chen and I looked at Ye Xiu like he was crazy or blind.

"What do you mean? It's pretty similar. See, I have even higher magic attack, INT, cast speed, and range than her."

"Are they really all higher? Look closer." Ye Xiu suggested.

Wei Chen and I looked again. I still didn't really see what the big deal is but Wei Chen seemed to notice something. "No way! That's too broken!" He exclaimed.

"What? What?" I asked the two urgently. I still couldn't see what they were making a fuss about.

"Damn. What's up with these stats? Let me look at your other equipment." Wei Chen grunted and quickly clicked open a few more windows and frowned. "Broken, so broken. This is the first time I have seen a decrease cooldown stat on any equipment." He muttered as he looked at each of my equipment and then look at my overall character stat.

"Is my equipment bad or good?" I still didn't understand.

"Is good. See you have +12% in cast speed, but it might not be as fast as Wei Chen's +14. But because you have + cast speed stats from the other items, your cast speed might be faster overall. Your + 53 INT is indeed low compared to Death's Hand, but you also have +10% magic attack to make up for that. +10% is already considered very high by equipment standards. This is even better than having high INT." Ye Xiu analyzed the stats to me one by one.

A lot of the details went over my head though since there were so many stats. But the overall gist was my equipment stats were good, and the author was too lazy to come up the actually stat/numbers for all White Robed Witch's event silver equipment.

"It can't be put into the Equipment Editor." Ye Xiu noted when Wei Chen tried to drop my equipment into the program.

"At least there is some justice in the world! If they could be improved even more, how would the rest of us live! How did you even come up with the ideas for these bonus stats?" Wei Chen seemed to let out a sigh of relief.

"A friend gave me recommendations on most of the stats and buffs. We wanted even more stuff added, but Glory didn't approve them." I knew Wei Chen was mostly just talking to himself, but I replied anyways.

"F*ck. Even more stats and buffs?" Wei Chen swore when he tried to imagine my silver items being even more powerful than their current state.

"Oh. Was it him?" Ye Xiu asked a little surprised. It seemed like his good friend never told him that he helped me on my design entry.

"Yup. He was truly an genius." I only understood about half of what Wei Chen and Ye Xiu said. But from what I could understood, it seemed like my equipment was above average and borderline godly. It made me pretty happy.

"Yea." Ye Xiu flashed a rare sincere smile. "Take good care of your White Robed Witch."

"I will even if you didn't tell me."

"I put so much effort in my Death Hand and she just have Glory hand silver equipment to her. Where is the justice in this world?" Wei Chen lamented begrudgingly the whole time in the background.

x

"Oh. XiaoBai, you seem to have some good material there. You want to sell them to us?" Ye Xiu noticed some of the random stuff in my inventory when he and Wei Chen was digging around on my account.

"Oh you want those?" I glanced over at the random crap I got from the Spring Festival Quests, recent dungeons runs, and past events. I was quite the item hoarder. I didn't know what to do with rare monster drops, weapons, and materials, but felt like it would be too wasteful to just sell it to a NPC. So I kept everything that wasn't a common monster drop. "You can have them for free. I think I have more of those junks in my warehouse if you want more. I don't even know what they are used for."

"Junk… Haha…how generous…" Ye Xiu and Wei Chen didn't know if they should laugh or cry at this moment. Some materials they couldn't even buy with great amount of money were described as junk. This was the perfect case of one man's trash is another's treasure. They laughed gloomily and muttered something about spending 2 million RMB on materials when they could have just asked me for some of the stuff in the beginning.

2 million RMB? I cleaned my ears out with my pinky; I probably just heard it wrong. They probably meant like 2 million gold in game or something.

"Oh right before I forget. Here." I took out a thick envelope from my art bag and handed it to Ye Xiu.

"What is it?" Ye Xiu asked while opening the flap. Wei Chen glanced over too.

"10k USD cash." (65k RMB)

Ye Xiu tossed the envelope to Wei Chen. Wei Chen swore and dropped it on the floor like it was a very hot potato. Sure Ye Xiu had struck a 20 million RMB deal with Samsara and Wei Chen had 18 million RMB in his bank, but they both have never touched so much raw cash before. Once Wei Chen got over the initial shock, he had a urge to make it rain in here.

"Call it an investment. You guys better take good care of YiFan. I will send 2k USD monthly starting next month."

"You know this much will maybe only help pay for monthly rent and utilities." Ye Xiu said haughtily like it was no big deal after regaining his composure.

"F**k. I'm taking my money back then you ungrateful ass." I made a grab for the cash envelope.

"Can't you be more grateful!?" Wei Chen scolded and smacked Ye Xiu on the head.

"Now, now. Don't be so hasty." Ye Xiu took advantage of his long limbs to hold the money out of my reach. "Although I feel like we should give you something in return."

"You are now an official member of our team!" Wei Chen announced like he was the boss.

"I have to stay neutral currently due to my work contract with the company. You guys can't use my name associated with your team for promotion or anything else while I work for them, okay?" I shook my head at Wei Chen's team offer.

"Then you can be an unofficial member." Wei Chen changed his wording a little.

"I will be your guy's first fan too. You guys better charge back into the pro scene and win it all." I gave Ye Xiu and Wei Chen two thumbs up and a determined look.

"We sure will." Ye Xiu and Wei Chen replied with the same amount of determination.

"But other than that, I feel like we should do something in return. Oh I know, how about I teach you Dragon Raising Its Head? or Z-Shake. Your hand current speed isn't bad; with some practice you might be able to pull them off. Do you want to learn it?"

"The move you used during All-Star weekend? Hell yea. I'm going to need to learn all the tricks I can to survive fighting with the pro-players next season." I could already imagine the look of surprised from the pro players and audience when I use Ye Xiu's signature move during a battle. The internet was going to explode.

"Haha. They aren't much. I will see what else I can teach you. Now, let's all go to bed. We will start your training tonight when I get up." Ye Xiu brushed off the people I addressed as pros like they were nothing but ants and walked out of the room.

x

Wei Chen and I took a stroll back to the apartment. Ye Xiu went to bed at his shared living space with the girls on the second floor of the cafe. How was that a good idea? I had no idea. Anyways, I was bored out of my mind as I sat in front of the computer in my room. Everyone at the apartment already went to sleep in the middle of the afternoon, leaving me all alone.

Should I working on Project Desert Dust more? Naw, I decided there would be many more days when I will have nothing to do when the team was sleeping the daylight away. I decided to use the computer in my room to log back into the game and explore Heavenly Domain by myself. Sure the computer in the sleeping quarter isn't as heavy duty as the ones at the cafe, but it was good enough to play the game casually.

While running around with no destination in mind, I saw a large group of players with Tyrannical Ambition's tag running in a certain direction. Then Blue Brook Guild, Samsara and a few other guild groups also ran towards the same direction. If so many people were gathering again, that could only mean another wild boss have spawned. I followed the group discreetly in a distance. Maybe I can see some interesting battle between the guilds again.

I picked out high spot with a good view away from all the guilds. Herb Garden was the first group to have engaged the boss. But finders are not always keepers. Without Ye Xiu and the four alliances to interfering, Tyrannical Ambition quickly took control of the boss. The smart guilds just stood around and watched. But some guilds tried to compete for the boss but eventually were forced to leave the battlefield in a devastated state.

"This is boring." I mumbled as I watched the uneventful scene play out. Things were much interesting when Ye Xiu was going head to head with the Tyranny's Master Technician.

As I watched innocently from the sidelines, a Heat-seeking Missile headed my way from the distance. I quickly casted an Ice Wall to protect myself. My Ice Wall crumbled when the missile hit, but I didn't take damage so the wall did its job. But then more attacks started headed my way. One attack would just be a stray attack from the battlefield, but this many meant they were targeting me!

Who did I offend to deserve this type of treatment? The only way to find out was to go and ask them directly. I thought about jumping down from this height to make a super cool entrance, but then decided I don't have enough control to make sure the White Robed Witch wouldn't die from the jump. So I had to take the long way down the cliff to where the guilds were.

"Hey. Can I get through here? Take me to your leader, I want to have a word with them." I said as I pushed my way through a group from Samsara.

"It's the White Robed Witch." Players from the different bystander guilds started whispering excitedly among each other.

"Hey. You guys weren't the ones who were attacking me were you?" I asked once I got into the front and saw their fearless leaders examining the flow of the battle.

"Greetings to the Goddess. We wouldn't dare to do something so outrageous." A player with the name of Three Realms Six Paths replied politely.

"Did you see who was sending attacks towards that cliff then?" I pointed to the position I was previous at to enjoy the birds eye view of the battlefield.

"It was the shameless guys from the Blue Brook Guild, Goddess." Someone yelled from behind.

"Yea. Blue Brook is shameless!" Other players in Samsara guild echoed each other.

"Thanks!" I had the White Robed Witch turn around to wave at the Samsara's group before teleporting my way towards Blue Brook Guild.

x

On my way to confront Blue Brook, I saw a suspicious looking Ninja character snooping around the battlefield. He was not only picking up equipments scattered around the battlefield from dead character; he was actually being selective with the drops! Taking a closer look, it was that Deception character that Ye Xiu told me to keep an eye out for and kill on sight.

Sorry random person. I don't know how you pissed off Ye Xiu, but I have to kill you now. I apologized to him silently in my heart before launching an attack when his back was turned. As if he could sense danger was approaching. Deception turned just in time to block some of the damage from my Dragon Breaks the Rank.

"Sorry random person. I really have nothing against you." I said to the other party in game, but the Deception didn't say anything in response like a true devoted ninja.

After exchanging a few blow with Deception, we both discovered that it wasn't going to be an easy win for either of us. He was more skilled. However, because he took the initial damage from my failed surprise attack, I would most likely eventually win out at this pace of the battle. Instead of trying to turn the battle around, Deception made the decision to escape the battle with a well place smoke bomb right under my feet. By the time the smoke cleared up, I had lost Deception.

"Well. I tried." I comforted myself and hoped that Ye Xiu wouldn't give me a hard time if he found out I fought but I had let Deception escaped. After the short failed skirmish, I continued my way to Blue Brook to give them an earful.

x

"Hey Blue Bridge Spring Snow, why were the guys in your guild attacking me?" I recognized the familiar guy I killed earlier on the battlefield today. Blue Bridge Spring Snow seemed very surprised at my sudden approach.

"Whao! It's one of the Glory's Goddess!" Some players yelled from the crowd behind.

"She is with the four guild alliance and the one who offed our brave leader earlier today!" Some other people added.

The guild seemed to be torn into two. One side seemed to be my fan while the other side hated me because I was helping the despicable monster, Ye Xiu.

"How dare you attack the Glory Goddess." A male Blade Master by the tacky name of Poplar Beach quickly sided with me to earn my favor. Instead of feeling happy, Poplar Beach made me feel a bit uncomfortable with his sucking up-ness.

"There must be some kind of misunderstanding. I'm sure Blue Bridge Spring Snow wouldn't knowingly attack you." A character by the name of Ice of Dawn tried to break the tension between his teammates.

"I knew it was her up there. I send attacks your way because I thought you were spying for the alliance side." Blue Bridge Spring Snow said in an unapologetic manner.

"Goddess, you aren't a spy for the four guild alliance are you? Are they coming?" Poplar Beach seem a bit deflated when he heard that I worked for Ye Xiu and the alliance.

"Naw, they aren't. They are busy with other things. Besides, I'm a neutral party. I just joined the fray with them to see what a hunt for a wild boss was all about." I explained simply.

"Ah. I see, I see. So that's how it is." Popular Beach nodded rather acceptingly.

"Hey Little Blue, don't have a grudge against me okay? All is fair in a fight for a wild boss, neh?" I said as I send a winking expression at Blue Bridge Spring Snow's direction.

"Little Blue…" Blue Bridge Spring Snow didn't seem too pleased with the nickname. "Will you still be helping them out in the future?" He asked.

"Will it be safer to stay with them or you guys during a boss fight?" I answered his question with a question.

"..." Everyone from Blue Brook fell silent at my question because they knew the answer very well.

"Since it looks like I won't get a good look at the wild boss here, I'm going to go closer. See you guys later!" I said as I teleported my way towards Tyrannical Ambition next.

x

"White Robed Witch from the alliance approaching!" Someone reported to Vice Captain Zhang XinJie.

"Stop her." Zhang XinJie ordered simply and didn't waste anymore time on me.

"If you guys kill me, don't blame me for making the Desert Dust figure look ugly. Take me to Zhang XinJie." I threatened as I dodged people's attacks left and right as best as I could. But it was like 1000 vs 1, so I no matter how much I dodged, I still would get hit. I downed HP potions as quickly as I could to keep myself alive. But once I yelled my empty threat, people stopped attacking me and made way for me.

"Vice Captain Zhang XinJie is this way." A character by the name Wandering Peak came to get me personally.

"This isn't a trap to kill me right?" I asked as I eyed all the players that parted way for us.

"We would never think of doing that."

"But if you were thinking about it, just know if Desert Dust figure turns out ugly, it's on you."

"T_T" Wandering Peak cried.

x

"Where is Ye Xiu and his four alliance? What trick is Ye Xiu up to now?" Zhang XinJie asked straightforwardly when he saw me. He was playing a character called Misty Mountain. So this was the character that Ye Xiu was waving at earlier.

"They are all offline, taking a nap. You don't have worry about them for the rest of the day."

"Why are you here then?" He asked.

"I was bored and saw you guys by chance. Can I hang out with you guys for the rest of the day?"

"How can we be sure you aren't here to spy on us?"

"Do I look like a spy? Look how innocent my eyes look! Have a bit more faith!" At this point, White Robed Witch stood directly in front of Zhang XinJie's character's face. I literally stared him down eye to eye.

"What if I say no?" He still rejected my request, to my dismay.

"Then can you ask Old Man Han to see if he can keep me company in game? Is he next to you right now? He should have time off too since you guys are all on break right now, right? I suppose I could message him myself. Is he in front of a computer though?" I blabbered on and on and on.

"..." Everyone was speechless. Was Ye Xiu's shameless was contagious? The perfect image of the Goddess in everyone's heart today chipped a little today.


	33. Our Secret Summer Rendezvous

A/N: Might need tissue for second half of chapter for those who tear up easy.

* * *

I ran around with Zhang XinJie and Tyrannical Ambition guild for a good portion of the afternoon. I eventually got bored from lack of competition for wild boss. Without another Master Technician present, Tyrannical Ambition dominated over all other guilds.

"I'm heading off. Thanks for your time." I said to Zhang XinJie before moving to a nearby safespot to log off.

"Your welcome." Zhang XinJie replied but found I already teleported into the distance "...".

x

Around 6:30PM, a knock came from my door.

"Coming."

"Hi Sis." YiFan greeted me when I opened the door.

"Someone is finally up. I have been so bored by myself." I hugged YiFan like I haven't another human being for days. "Are the rest of the guys up too?"

"I don't think so. I haven't heard any noise from their rooms."

"You want to go out and get dinner for everyone here?" Wei Chen got breakfast, so it was only fair I returned the favor.

"Sure."

It was pretty handy the residential area had many food stalls within a short walking distance. Unsure what Wei Chen and BaoZi liked, YiFan and I decided to pick up some meat buns and fried chicken. Why fried chicken? Because you can never go wrong with fried chicken in your life!

x

When YiFan and I returned to the apartment, there were shouting coming from the second floor. Looks like the rest of the household woke up just in time for dinner.

"You better get up now or I will take your sheet! I don't care if you are sleeping naked. You know I have no bottom line."

"Nooo. Don't want to! Let me sleep for 10 more minutes!"

"If you keep on sleeping, you will really be a BaoZi. Get up brat!"

"No!"

"I bought dinner!" I joined the yelling.

"Oh food!" I heard a thud from one of the bedrooms followed by sounds of footsteps. BaoZi waved to me from the second floor railing. "I smell fried chicken!"

"Yup. Go wash up first, then come down and have some."

"Okay!" BaoZi then ran to the bathroom to wash his face and change out of his PJs.

"If I knew it was that easy, I wouldn't have wasted that much time and voice trying to wake him up. This old man's voice is hoarse from all the shouting." Wei Chen sighed heavily when he came to the table.

"Have some water, senior." YiFan poured a cup of water for Wei Chen. Oh YiFan, the forever waterboy.

"How thoughtful. Thanks for dinner." Wei Chen praised.

"No problem. You fed me, I fed you right?"

"Ahaha. You have a good head on your shoulder!"

x

After eating dinner with YiFan, Wei Chen, and BaoZi at the apartment, we walked leisurely to Happy Internet Cafe. When we arrived in the team room, Ye Xiu and the rest of the girls were already up and playing in their usual spots.

"Looks like everyone is here now. It's should be that guy, Zhang XinJie's bedtime in a hour. Let's all get ready for the night. Oh XiaoBai came too? I thought you weren't going to pull all-nighters with us." Ye Xiu added on the last part almost like an afterthought.

"What do I look like, a toddler? It's not even 10PM yet." I had been told that I had a baby face, but I doubt they actually mean I looked like a infant.

"You usually go to bed pretty early though." Ye Xiu retorted.

"Only on weekdays when I need to go to work the next day." I eye rolled.

"Oh. Well here." Ye Xiu send me a QQ message even though we were all sat within earshot of each other. The message was a guide for series keys to press after using Rising Dragon Soars the Sky. From one look, I knew this was to help me learn Ye Xiu's signature move, Dragon Raises Its Head. "Practice that on your free time from now on."

"Okay!"

"Sis, what's this?" YiFan took a quick glance at my screen and became a bit curious.

"A secret. Just wait until next season to start." I smiled mysteriously and turned my screen away from YiFan.

I don't remember when, but I had fallen asleep at the computer sometimes during the night. I don't remember being moved or carried. However, when morning came, I woke up on a couch in a stranger's room. The blanket and pillow were all femininely pink.

I found myself in a small living room area. Three other bedrooms and a bathroom were also attached to the living room. There were pillows and sheets on the couch. This was most likely the living area at Happy.

I wondered where everyone was. From the position of the sun, it was probably already late morning. Shouldn't they be going to bed so they can play through the night again?

x

"Why are you guys still awake?" I was shocked when I saw everyone was still hard at work in front of their computers.

"That guy haven't logged in yet." Ye Xiu quickly explained. His eyes glued to the screen.

Ye Xiu had noticeable dark circles under his eyes, although he wasn't the only one around the room. Everyone looked tired and disheveled from their all nighter. Hard core gamers.

The group played for a few more hours until Chen Guo yelled with a piece of news that seemed to shock both Ye Xiu and Wei Chen. "Lin JingYan has transferred to Tyranny!"

"Lin JingYan?" The two older men immediately went to look deeper into the news. Everyone else also went to look to familiar themselves with a new future threat.

I, on the other hand, didn't recognize the name as much. Sure, the name sounded a little familiar, but I couldn't put a face to the name as fast as Ye Xiu and Wei Chen could. After looking up the pictures from Tyranny's press conference, I finally remember the guy. I did take a picture with him and his old team during the awards banquet. I couldn't remember him because I also took a lot of pictures with many other people that night, and nothing about our interaction together made him stood out.

When noon hit, everyone in the room decided to call quits for the day and head to bed. I was left in the training room by myself, with permission from Chen Guo to stay of course. After sitting in the dark room by myself for a little, I didn't want to practice and play Glory by myself. It was really boring. As a human, I craved social interactions, even online ones. But, I didn't currently have any online friends either.

I pulled open the large curtain that covered a giant window with a great view to the outside world. I had to squint my eyes from the sudden invasion of blinding brightness into the room. My eyes quickly adjusted and marveled the view. I stood by the window to soak up the sunlight and watched the people walking pass on the street below. Too bad this view is wasted on people who wouldn't appreciate it.

x

Today was beautiful. It was already my third day in City H. I don't have too many days left in the city, and I didn't know when I will be able to return again. I decided today would make a good day to visit an old friend.

I had found out the burial place for Su MuQiu from a previous text message from SuSU. I know I was suppose to go to Nanshan Public Cemetery with SuSu, but with everyone's sleeping schedule was flipped except for mine, it was hard to find time to go together. I considered this a blessing in disgust though. I was glad that I was going alone since there were things I doubt I will able to say to Su MuQiu with his sister next to me.

I took a taxi to the cemetery. The cemetery seemed void of living people, but that was expected. I did came to the cemetery on a random weekday at a random time. There was a flower shop located close by the entrance. It was small shop, but they seemed to carried a lot of variety. A bell above the door jingled when I entered.

"Welcome. Can I help you to look for anything today?" The florist greeted from the counter.

"Ah. I want to buy flowers for someone, but I don't know what to get."

"Is it for a family member?"

"No. A friend who died way too young."

"If you don't mind. Would you describe him a little?"

"He shouldered a lot of responsibility at a young age. But he always had a bright outlook in life. He was someone dependable and really knows how to cheer people up. He helped me out a lot over the years we knew each other."

"It sounded like you guys were close."

"Yes, I like to think that we were."

"Ah. I have a few recommendation in mind for you if you like to take a look." The florist said with knowing smile.

x

I took my time strolling to Su MuQiu's gravestone. Yes, I was procrastinating. I needed all the extra time I could get to think over my words. I had never done anything like this before. What do I do? What do I say? I didn't know why but I felt really nervous and held tightly to my bouquet of flowers. No matter how much I tried to drag out my walk, step by step I still ended up inevidentable in front of Su MuQiu's small tombstone.

"Hi, friend. How have you been?" I smiled awkwardly.

I examined MuQiu's tombstone. There was a small picture mounted on the tombstone, and a dried flower bouquet in front of the tombstone from the last time someone had visited him.

"It looks like it's been a while since someone came to visit. Let me switch out the flower for you. I didn't know what flowers to get you so I hope you like these." I bent down to picked up the dried up flowers and set the fresh ones down.

"Ah, you probably don't even know who I am since we never actually met in real life before. I'm JingChun, but go by Naomi nowadays. Do I look different than what you thought? Are you disappointed? Ahaha, I'm so embarrassed my hair roots are showing. It has been more than half an year since I got my hair dyed. You look pretty similar to how I thought you would though - cheerful and bright." I commented as I wiped off some dirt off his picture with my hands to take a good look at the person in the picture. An energetic looking teen smiled brightly back at me from the picture.

The more I talked, the more I opened up in this one sided conversation. I remembered this was still the same MuQiu I knew from the 1st server. The same person I shared many happy, sad, and frustrated times with online. We were no different than before. I kept on talking. I told him about how the school system was different in the State, my failed engagement, my new job at Glory Co., and my future matches with the pros.

"Why did you have to leave so early? You would have undoubtedly shaken the pro scene with Ye Xiu if you were still alive. Then I could make a figure for both of you... I always wanted to make a character figure for you when you became famous." By the end of my monologue, I was in tears. The world was just so unfair. Why someone so innocent and bright like him have to die so early when there were so many evil, corrupted people out there. Why him?

After sobbing in front of his grave for little, I decided it was time to leave since I could only be a slobbering fool at the moment. I didn't want him to see me like this. When I turned away from his picture, something SuSu shared with me came to me.

"Hey, your sister told me your feelings recently. I was too young to know and understand back in the days. Sorry to not have noticed for so long. You know better than anyone that I am dumb as rocks when it come to feelings." I dug my feet into the ground and solidified my determination. MuQiu deserved a response after all these years.

"After some thinking, you were my first crush. Sorry that it took me so long to notice and give you an answer. Thanks for everything back then. Thank you for still being part of my life now. I couldn't done a lot things if it wasn't for your help." I took out my first server account card for the White Robed Witch and held out for the Su MuQiu in the picture to see. Even though I was confessing my feelings to a tombstone, I still couldn't help keep the heat from rising to my cheeks. "I will take good care of her for both of us. I will take care of Ye Xiu and Su MuCheng too so you can worry a little less. Rest well my dear friend."

Su MuQiu did a lot of thinking and research on the duo weapon design and stats ideas. In a way, the White Robed Witch's duo weapon was part of Su MuQiu's early ideas that later evolved and resulted in Lord Grim's Myriad Manifestation Umbrella.

"I have to go now. I will visit the next time I'm in town." I promised with a tear stained smile.

With one last glance at the picture on the tombstone, I walked away, leaving only the bouquet of white lilacs with a single white gardenia(1) in the center to keep Su MuQiu company.

* * *

(1) There is meaning in the flower choice. But I won't disclose.


	34. The End of Summer Vacation

Short chapter + AU three part short story because last chapter was too sad.

* * *

I had slept in Chen Guo's room again while the rest of the team pulled another all nighter. I woke up around the same time everyone else decided to head to bed. I greeted Ye Xiu, SuSu, Chen Guo, and Tang Ruo on my way out of their living area to meet up with YiFan to head back to the apartment. I smiled at the sight that YiFan standing with BaoZi and Wei Chen. Slowly, he was not invisible and alone anymore.

"How did you guys do last night?" I asked the boys about what I missed while sleeping.

Wei Chen grumbled something under his breath. He sounded a bit irritated so I could already guessed the result.

"Ahhh!" BaoZi let out a random yell and rustled his hair in frustration. Many people walking passing by us turn their head and stare, but everyone was too tired to care.

"We only got one boss." YiFan replied with a yawn and a stretch.

"It can't be helped since they wild boss spawn by random, right?" I felt bad for everyone from the guild alliance. So many people have stayed up for one measly wild boss. Not worth it at all.

"Don't you work for Glory? Can't you like make the wild bosses spawn more often at nights or something? Just for the next two month. We aren't asking for much here." Wei Chen asked a bit desperately. He tried to make a pouty face and failed with a shameless face like his. I think he might even give me nightmares with that face.

"Not my department. I don't handle any coding for the game." I wasn't sure if Wei Chen was being serious or not, but I waved it off like a joke either way.

The four of us bought a few simple breakfast foods from food stalls on the way back, and had a quick bite together before the boys went up to their rooms and snoozed the day away.

It was already day 4 out of 10 of my vacation, I should really work on Desert Dust again. I spend the rest of the day in my room cleaning up sketches for the different poses and some different bases I had in mind. I think even Old Man Han, a dummy to artistic things, would like all of these sketches. Ugh, he made my heart bleed a little when he called my drawings stick figures when I showed him my drawings in the past.

x

The boys woke up mid-afternoon today since they went to bed earlier today. We had burgers, fries, and soda - I insisted because it was 7/4 so I needed a little grill flavor - in the middle of the afternoon before going heading to practice.

Since everyone woke up early today, it was inevitable that the guild alliance would clash with Tyrannical Ambition. When the first wild boss popped up, the two side led by the two Master Technicians cleared the field of all other guild before clashing head to head.

After hanging out with Tyrannical Ambition members that one afternoon, they knew me pretty well. We also came to an agreement if I don't attack them, they won't attack me anymore. This gave me the freedom to pretty much walk around the frey without fearing of being attacked. Or that's what I thought.

Smack! A black brick hurled towards me and hit me right in my blind spot. Because it hit me in the back of the head, my character stood paralyzed for a few seconds. If this was real life, it would have been dangerous!

"Who threw that brick?"

"Who is randomly throwing bricks?"

Ye Xiu and I yelled around the same time. We both looked around in the crowd, but couldn't find anyone sneaking around throwing bricks.

I followed Ye Xiu's Light There Be Light and SuSu's Launcher somewhat closely during wild boss fights because that's where all the action was happening. It was not rare for me to get hit by a stray attack or something, but that brick was almost too well aimed.

"You guys broke the truce. Hand over the guy who threw that brick so I can kill him or don't blame me for not being nice." I demanded to no one, yet at the same time everyone in Tyrannical Ambition. Of course my demands went ignored. So I teleported back into the the guild alliance forces and started spamming AOE attacks into enemy territory. It didn't matter if I hit the person I was looking for or not. If I could kill a few players from their side, it would still make me a bit happier.

"Ahh! The goddess is mad!" I heard someone, hopefully, from Tyrannical Ambition's side yell.

"XiaoBai, stop spamming attacks, you are going to kill people from our side too. Go stand by the sidelines and do nothing." Ye Xiu ordered.

"Fine." I deflated a little and made my way out of battle.

x

When I reached edge of the battlefield, many of the guild stood around and looked on like they have done in the last week. They know they have zero chance of taking the boss back from the two fighting gods, right?

"You guys are here again?" I asked when I saw a familiar name standing in front of a massive crowd of guild members. I rushed over to the familiar name in the crowd. Even though I asked, I wasn't actually surprised to see Blue Brook Guild again. They are one of the major guilds that fought for wild bosses afterall.

"We are here to seize any opportunity that shows it self." Blue Bridge Spring Snow announced proudly like a true warrior. He stared intently onto the ongoing battle. He actually looked like he understood how the flow of battle. His character looked so serious that it was almost funny.

"How has that been working out for you?" I said while making the White Robed Witch examine her nails.

"..." He didn't answer and kept on staring.

He didn't need to answer because both he and I already knew how the gods pretty much dominated both night and day; this left very little opportunity for anyone else. I only asked to press on his sore spot. Teehee. Sorry not sorry.

"Where is that young kid that's usually with you? Is he not here today?" I asked as I looked at the Blue Brook troop behind me. It was easy to see Flowing Cloud wasn't here today because the kid was usually energetic and loud, so he was easy to notice.

"What are you doing outside of battle? Is Ye Xiu looking for Little Lu to use him against for his benefits again? Tell Ye Xiu stop trying to get any ideas about using Little Lu to help his side out again." Blue Bridge asked in disgust. The gears in his brain was probably working overtime right now. He was probably trying to figure out what my role in this battle was. He most likely thought that Ye Xiu send me with a secret mission to dramatically turn the flow of battle from the sidelines or something.

"You are overthinking things. You are going to get premature white hair if you keep on worrying about unnecessary things. I was just curious about Flowing Cloud and want to compliment on his Shadow Steps. Ye Xiu actually kicked me out of the battlefield because I started spamming attacks when I got mad. I'm in a time out right now." I shrugged. I was able to talk to Blue Bridge easily because I had seen Blue Bridge a few more times in game now. We even had crossed swords before, so that made us acquaintances of some sort in my mind.

A crash could be heard from Blue Bridge's side like something was knocked off the table or someone fallen out of a chair.

"Everything okay on your side?" I casually asked.

"Yea…unbelievable, too unbelievable (厉害，太厉害了)(1)." Blue Bridge muttered under his breath.

x

Eventually the guild alliance lost this wild boss to Tyrannical Ambition and the onlookers started to disperse.

"Nice to see you again, Little Blue! Keep in touch. Next time bring Little Lu and we can all play again!" I waved as he led his troops away. I realized that I never added Blue Bridge so how are we suppose set up playdates if we didn't have each other's contacts. I tossed friend request his way before he got too far.

Little Blue seem to stop in his steps, but he didn't turn back and just waved and walked away.

[You are now friends with Blue Bridge Spring Snow.] The system message popped up on my screen.

x

A while after the guild alliance lost the wild boss, Misty Mountain finally logged off for the day. Zhang XinJie had added each other on to our friend list after our "bonding" time, and we were besties now! Naw, it was more like to keep track of each other. Before Zhang XinJie logged off, he messaged me with an apology for the stray brick and hope we keep our truce. It seemed like my attack spam was troublesome and did to a bit of damage, although it was a double edged sword and hurt both sides.

"You make sure your side don't hit me again. That aim is too dangerous! If I died, I don't even know how I had died." I half complained and half praised.

"I will let Lin JingYan know."

"Lin JingYan? The guy that just transferred to you guys? Let him know that I will making a personal complaint to him in person in a couple days!" I reminded Zhang XinJie that I would be heading to Tyranny for Project Desert Dust again.

"Yes."

After Tyrannical Ambition's two great leaders logged off for the night, it was easy wild boss picking for the rest of the night. Two bosses showed up already before I headed to bed in Chen Guo's room again. It seemed like tonight will be a good night for the guild alliance.

x

For the rest of the time I stayed in City H, I slept in Chen Guo's room at the internet cafe because everyone worried about me walking back to the apartment alone and getting lost. I swear I'm not that bad with direction guys….I should just be thankful that they care though. They weren't wrong. I did have a terrible sense of directions, especially in game and in the dark. But there was a thing called GPS now so getting lost would be a bit harder. The whole team insisted I slept here and go back with the boys in the morning, so that's what I did.

My days at Happy started to repeat itself after a while. I would sleep when everyone was wild boss hunting, and they would sleep when I was awake. There wasn't too much for me to do so I usually bugged Zhang XinJie from Tyrannical Ambition or hung around Blue Brook when I saw Flowing Cloud or Little Blue around. After a week of meeting everyone online, we weren't strangers anymore. Sometimes, I would even get a greeting from them when I log on if they weren't busy fighting over wild bosses.

During my plentiful free time, I finished the rough draft sketches for Project Desert Dust and drew doodles of the different characters I had met in game during my vacation. I would post a character doodle to my Weibo daily: One Inch Ash, Lord Grim, the four guild masters from Ye Xiu's alliance, and Little Blue. Some of the aforementioned people came to me crying to thank me when they saw my drawing of their character.

To me, my doodles were just drawings born from boredom. The quality greatly varied. Some were full body rough sketches and others were a fully colored headshot. But to a normal person, this was like receiving a gift from their idol. Many players who followed my Weibo started to seek me out in game so maybe they can get a freebie too.

Finding me in game itself wasn't an easy task since I almost exclusive hang out with Happy and Tyrannical Ambition at the wild bosses battles. Before the normal players could find the shadow of my character, they would be killed during the wild boss fighting process.

x

After living a completely carefree live for 10 days, it was already time for me to take off to meet up with Lin and Old Han in City Q for work.

"I don't want to go." I cling to YiFan like how he had once cling to me when I was leaving the for the States. "You will be so far away now! I want to stay!"

"It's not that far, Sis. You can come and visit over the weekend or something." YiFan comforted me with a hug.

"You are welcome to Happy anytime! You are one of us now." Chen Guo said. Tang Rou nodded in agreement from her side.

"We still need to go see my brother together." SuSu reminded me.

"We could have gone together this time, but who kept on sleeping the days away." I teased. SuSu just stuck her tongue out childishly at me.

"Don't forget to keep up with your practice." Ye Xiu reminded me.

"Let's spar again when I get more Silver Gears." Wei Chen suggested.

"You are so shameless to pick on XiaoBaiBai. XiaoBaiBai take care of yourself. Don't forget the monthly deposit." Ye Xiu scrowled Wei Chen, and then held me by the shoulders and looked me seriously in the eyes.

"You are both shameless!" Chen Guo said a bit irked.

"Come and visit again!" BaoZi yelled just to not be left out.

"Bye, Sis." YiFan said to me as he helped me to get into the taxi.

"Bye everyone! Take care of YiFan for me!" I rolled down the window and yelled to them when the taxi started to drive away. "Don't get a girlfriend now you are on your own now, YiFan! Your sister have to approve of her first!"

"Sis!" YiFan yelled in embarrassment while everyone else chuckled.

I took a mental picture and smiled. YiFan looked like he was finally at a team where he belonged. A place that would nurture him and help him make friends.

"Make it big and I will make a figure for your team!" I yelled one last time, not knowing if they could still heard me or not.

"Lady. Can you stop shouting from the window? I might get pulled over because of you." The taxi driver looked at me disapprovingly through the rear view mirror.

"Sorry, sorry." I apologized on the surface, but deep down I was sorry not sorry.

* * *

(1) 厉害: direct translation is powerful or strong, but Blue Bridge is using it in a sarcastic way. So his meaning here is closer to these people are unbelievable in a bad, tiring way.

* * *

Omake: Extra Chance for He and I in an Alternative Universe (Alive!Su MuQiu x Naomi) per request by guest. Hope you guys like this short story.

In a parallel world, he and I had the same beginning, but a different ending.

x

Our Beginning:

12/3 at 00:00AM was the release of Glory. A day that many gamers across China looked forward to. I was no different.

12/3 was the day I had been looking forward to for a really long time, but I couldn't play the game at the time of release because it was on a Tuesday, a school day. My dad was a college professor and my was was just strict. Asking for a day off to play video games was out of the question. I could only wait to play the game a little after school the next day. I wished it was the weekend. Why the hell would a game company drop the release on a Tuesday was beyond me. It seemed like a terrible decision; people had school and work you know!

It wasn't until Friday night before I finally got the chance to sit down to play Glory. The game took forever to download because the file was so big. It also didn't help that I had slow internet at home. It was so frustrating watching the download progress bar moving at the pace of drops of water filling up a bucket. By the time the game finally finished downloading and installed, I had to go to bed already on Tuesday. There were quizzes and projects due rest of the week. Being a good student, I had to put gaming aside for good grades.

For the rest of the week, I lived vicariously through others by eavesdropping on other students talking about Glory. I really couldn't wait to get started playing. After dragging my feet around school Friday, it was finally the last class of the day. Watching the clock hand moving towards the last second of class on Friday was painful. When the dismissal bell rang, I ran home as if I ran for my life.

x

[Sorry. The character name your chose is already in use.] The system message popped up for the Nth time.

Ugh. All the names I wanted to use were all taken. I could go with Sailor Moon 123 or Purple Magical Girl 321, but using number was lame. I wanted to slam my face into the keyboard from frustration and scream. My Glory had ended before I even started. Hey I was 12 at the time, so cut me some slack for wanting to have girly girl character name and being overly dramatic.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of my anime girl drawing that I was working on. The girl was supposed to be a witch who wears a big hat that can control snow and ice with her staff, but I wasn't skilled enough to draw her well. Looking at the half finished drawing, a name came to me.

[Your character "White Robed Witch" has been created.]

I smiled satisfied at the white haired female character staring back cooly at me.

x

[LParty] I asked for a party to join at Green Forest after finally reaching level 5.

Reaching level 5 was a challenge of its own. Even after having a late start in the game, there were so many people at the beginner village for quests and stuff. Characters cannot overlap in game, so we all had to squeeze together and push our way in and out of the crowd. After hitting the minimum level to go into the 5 player dungeon at Green Forest, I immediately left the overcrowded beginner village.

[You have received a party request from "Autumn Tree". Accept or Decline]

I clicked Accept. I didn't any friends in game yet, so it didn't make a difference who I partied. I was just happy to get into a party at this point.

[Okay. We have full party now. Let's all head into the portal.] Autumn Tree typed into the party chat.

When all 5 characters loaded into the Green Forest Dungeon, I quickly glanced at the characters in the party. I was the lowest level person here; everyone else were already level 8 or 9. Trying not to let my level get myself down, I decided I will just work twice as hard as everyone else.

I ran up and started to beat any nearby monsters I saw, but that just got me in trouble. When I attacked one monster, it would call for help from its allies nearby. In a few seconds, I was overwhelmed by all the small monsters. Even though they were low level monsters, they were still higher level than me. Thus, I experienced level suppression from the monsters.

[Help!] I ran towards the other party members with a mob of monsters behind me.

[Whao. Whao. Whao. What are you doing!?] Autumn Tree yelled my way.

[I'm sorry. I don't know why they all came after me. T-T] I replied.

[One Autumn Leaf.] Autumn Tree quickly named another person in the party and a second male characters stepped out.

Side by side, Autumn Tree and One Autumn Leaf cleared the wave of monsters within a few minute. I watched in awe as the two displayed superb individual skills and teamwork despite the game was only 4 days old. I wondered if I could be this good after 4 days, but somehow I doubt it.

[Alright, all the monsters are cleared here. Let's move to the next area.] Autumn Tree announced after battle before leading the party deeper into dungeon.

[Help!] I cried and run towards the rest of the party again. Somehow I enraged the majority of monster in area and bringing the hidden boss Midnight Phantom Cat along too.

[Again?] Everyone in the party typed annoyed into the chat. After a fierce battle, half of the party was wiped out since I kept on OTing and attracting additional monsters in the area. In the end only Autumn Tree, One Autumn Leaf, and I somehow made it through the dungeon.

x

I apologized profusely when everyone revived outside of the dungeon. Two players immediately left the party saying they couldn't believe they got stuck with such a noob party and lost experience. Then, it was only Autumn Tree, One Autumn Leaf, and I left in the party.

[Kick her.] One Autumn Leaf said after my apology.

[Haha. Don't be like that One Autumn Leaf. You really have a talent for attracting monsters White Robed Witch.] Autumn Tree simply laughed.

[I'm sorry T-T. Please don't kick me. This is my first run. I will do better next time.] I apologized again.

[Waste of time. Kick her.] One Autumn Leaf said ruthlessly again.

[Let's give her another chance.]

[Fine. This time. Don't do anything White Robed Witch.]

[Okay. Thank you.]

That was the first time I met them.

x

A month after the grand opening of Glory's 1st server, the White Robed Witch was now a level 30 character, but I still had 0 skills. My record in the arena was 4 wins from 363 matches. I only managed to get up to level 30 due to the Christmas event that just had past. With a bit of luck, I got a lot of experience from the event and even two 20 point skill books.

It was kind of a miracle that I made it thus far. I spend most of my time killing monsters in the wild and leech experience from dungeon runs once in a while. I made a few friends online by this time and hung out a lot with Autumn Tree, One Autumn Leaf, and Desert Dust. They told me not to help since anytime I tried to do anything, I most certainly somehow cause a team wipe out.

[One Autumn Leaf is having a showdown with Desert Dust right now! This is their coordinate.] Autumn Tree messaged me out of nowhere while I was leveling in a monster infested area.

[Will be right there!] I replied before quickly heading to the locations. Luckily, it was close to where I was.

When I got there, the fight between the two was already over. Even though the map was close, I got lost along the way….

Even though the fight between One Autumn Leaf and Desert Dust was over, a new battle was brewing. When Desert Dust fell, he dropped an orange equipment. All the spectators lost it at the sight of the rare equipment. It didn't matter if they were a striker or not, everyone rushed forward like a mad mob for the equipment and hoped to maybe kill One Autumn Leaf too for another drop.

[Ah! Even One Autumn Leaf would die against that many players!] I typed to Autumn Leaf when I saw the chaotic scene. A unknown Qi Master named Qi Breaker appeared down there helping One Autumn Leaf, but two versus many was still too much.

[Get closer. Use your silencing skill and long range AOE attacks where I tell you to.] Autumn Tree said as he attacked here and there in the crowd with his pistols.

With a bit of luck and following orders from Autumn Tree, the three of us and the random Qi Master all survived the ordeal.

[Your aim sucks.] All three of them said to me afterwards.

x

[SuGe, thank you for all the help for the past half an year.] I thanked MuQiu one night before I left for the states. I wasn't sure if I would be able to continue to play Glory in the States. I wanted to say farewell so my online friends knew I didn't just disappear in thin air.

Ye Xiu, Su MuQiu and I knew each other by our real names now. Sometimes these things just slips out accidentally. MuQiu was slipped Ye Xiu's name out by accident during a dungeon run that turned into a giant mess because of me since Ye Xiu was faster to type than One Autumn Leaf. To get revenge, Ye Xiu revealed that Autumn Tree backwards was Su MuQiu's real name. Since I knew both of their names, I also told both them my name too.

[Will you be able to play Glory in America?] MuQiu asked.

[I don't know….] I replied.

[I will be still here if you ever need me. Come find me if you need me.]

[Thanks SuGe. You are the best.]

x

After I moved to the States, I was happy to find that I could still play on the Chinese Glory Server and I kept up with all the news on Glory forums. For the 1st anniversary of Glory, the gaming company announced that they would be releasing the 2nd server and having a silver equipment designing contest to celebrate the occasion.

For the equipment designing contest, I knew exactly what I wanted draw for my character. I still hang on to the drawing I named my character. After almost exactly one year since I drew the first drawing, I redesigned the character with new skills I learned from art classes. Combinating both Eastern and Western elements, I drew a complete outfit for the White Robed Witch suitable for her name.

Sadly, the contest wasn't just art contest. Glory Co also required you to name and give 'reasonable' stats to the equipments. What was reasonable though? Of course everyone would want their designed equipments be better than the stats of an orange equipment, but how much better? I didn't know, but it was good that I had friends who did study these stuff for work.

[SuGe, SuGe. What do you think?] I attached the drawing files in a QQ message to him. I was excited to show off my pretty drawing MuQiu. I like it when he praised me. I know it was childish, but it made me feel like he noticed me even if it was for a second.

[Not bad XiaoBaiBai! Are you also entering that equipment contest?] MuQiu praised like I thought he would. It made me grin ear to ear for no reason.

For MuQiu and Ye Xiu, my in game nickname stuck with them more so than my real name. I thought the nickname stupid, but MuQiu thought it was cute so I didn't argue with him. However, whenever Ye Xiu called me by that nickname, it just rubbed me the wrong way and I have urge to punch the guy though the screen. When I told MuQiu that, he just laughed.

[I am, but I don't know what to do for the names and stats. -sigh-] I typed.

[No problem. Leave everything to your SuGe.] MuQiu proclaimed. [I have a few ideas on how to make your set really interesting.]

[Thanks SuGe! You are the best!]

[Haha. Of course, of course. I'm your super awesome SuGe afterall!]

The winner of the contest was announced on 1/1 of the new year. The design that won by a landslide was entry by [White Robed Witch]. I won! When I logged into the game, the equipment set was already sitting in gift boxes in my inventory. I quickly opened one of the equipment and equip them. The silver letters were so blinding that I needed shade. Of course the first person I went to share the news with was MuQiu.

[Congratz! Give me a twirl. The set looks good on you.] He complimented after I turned my character 360 degrees for him.

[Thank you!] I replied delighted.

x

[XiaoBaiBai, what's wrong? You have not logged into QQ or Glory for a while?] MuQiu send a concerned message on QQ after I didn't log into Glory for a few weeks following the contest.

The happiness I gained winning of the contest didn't last long. There were many players that picked on me and called me hacker. My guild kicked me out because they were under flames because I was there. With the never seen before silver equipment set in game, my character could be considered the strongest character in game. The White Robed Witch have both high magic and physical attack, short cast time, and long attack range.

[SuGu. I'm sad.] Being constantly followed and verbally attacked by jealous players and haters made me sad. It was just too hard for a 14 year old to handle.

[I understand. Not everyone believe the rumors. Your friends knows the truth. We will be waiting. I will be waiting for you whenever you decide to come back to Glory, ok?]

[Okay.] Trusting in SuGe's words, I decided to give Glory a second chance. When I returned, MuQiu, and a few other close friends, kept me close to them wherever I played so I never had to deal with the all the mean people by myself again.

x

[Ye Xiu and I are going to be Pro Players!] MuQiu told me out of the blue when we were just chatting casually while watching a sunset in game like usually.

[I bet no one will be able to beat you guys!]

[Desert Dust is going pro too, and he is pretty strong too.] MuQiu said modestly.

[Yea, but Glory isn't a one player game. Isn't that what you taught me? You and Ye Xiu is the strongest team!] There was no doubt in my mind that MuQiu and Ye Xiu was the strongest currently in Glory.

[Ahaha. We will definitely have to win it all because you have so much faith in us.]

Unfortunately shortly after this chat, I decided to quit Glory due to the massive online drama. Even one year after the stupid event, people still hated me online. MuQiu and I also got busy with our own things. He was busy preparing for the pro scene with Ye Xiu and Qi Breaker, and I was with English and school in the states. For an English as a second language student, high school was not easy. I stopped frequented our common place, Glory. Just due to the nature of things, he and I broke away and lost touch.

MuQiu's last words to me on QQ was, [I will be waiting for you.]

x

Our Reunion:

Many years later, I stepped off the long plane ride from City C, USA to City B, China. I was a sculptor that was sent overseas to work on Glory figure Project in collaboration with Glory Co. I had taken the job offer due to a recent break up with my cheating fiance back in the states. It was funny how somethings come and go. How many years has it been since I last played Glory? I smiled bitterly as I reached for the White Robed Witch's account card in my pocket. I wondered if my friends still played.

Once I was all settled into my new apartment, I wandered into the closest Internet Cafe. I could tell from all the Glory posters on the wall, and how many people had Glory on their screens, Glory was still a very popular game despite being already almost 10 years old.

I logged in with the White Robed Witch and checked my friendlist. Sadly, I found none of my friends were online. Maybe it was MuQiu's last message to me that made me hope that he would still be playing. But, ten years was a long time. Maybe, MuQiu had already stopped playing Glory a long time ago. Had he and Ye Xiu made it big in the pro-scene? I couldn't help but to wonder.

x

"The character that we want you to design for us is Dancing Rain. The character of the captain of our champion team." Tao Xuan, the boss of Excellent Era said proudly. From my first impression of the man, he seemed like a shady car salesman. He would say anything to get the deal done. He showed me a few images of the Dancing Rain character. "He is Glory's number one launcher!"

"He?" I said to Lin, asking if he had mistranslated since he and she in Chinese had the same pronunciation. From the images, Dancing Rain was a female Launcher, but Lin confirmed that the player behind the character was male.

"Yes. He insisted on playing a female character. I suppose he have is own reasons. I'd like you to meet him to capture his personality. Have some tea, he should be up shortly." Tao Xuan insisted Lin and I sat and drank tea while we waited for the player behind Dancing Rain. A male player insist on playing a female character was weird in my opinion. Sure, it was normal for girls to play male characters to avoid being viewed as weak in game. But for a male to play a female character, it was just a trap.

"You wanted to see me, Boss?" A cheerful young man came through the door without knocking.

"Yes, come in. This is Naomi. She will be working on Dancing Rain's figure. Glory Co. send her here to work on the design before All-Star weekend. Please take care of her while she is here MuQiu." Tao Xuan waved the young man into office.

"SuGe?" I couldn't help to whisper under my breath. I had to take a second look at this man like I would recognize him. Sadly, I never met SuGe in real life so I don't know how the MuQiu I knew would look like.

"Huh? What did you say?" MuQiu must heard my quiet whisper and looked in my way suprised.

"Er. I said nice to meet. I'm Naomi from Glory." I stood up and offered him a hand.

"Naomi? Well come this way Naomi. Let me show you around. That's alright right Boss?" MuQiu shook my hand but didn't let go laterwards. With an okay from Tao Xuan, MuQiu pulled me along out the office.

Once the office door shut behind us, this MuQiu quickly pulled me down this and that hallway until we were in a storage room for computer supplies.

"Hm….This is? Should we be here?" I asked unsurely about this situation. Being in a dim storage room with a male wasn't what I expected on my first day of work in City H. This whole situation felt a bit weird and awkward.

"You said SuGe." MuQiu seemed to be still hung up on that it seemed.

"Sorry. It was a slip of mouth." Did I do something wrong? I somehow felt danger and stepped backwards to the door. I tried to open lock without looking at it. My eyes were currently glued to the taller male just in case I needed to knee him between the legs for self defense.

"You did called me SuGe right?" MuQiu held me by the shoulders and looked at me all excited.

"Sorry! I might have thought you were someone else." I tried to shrug his grip off, but it was firm.

"Who did you think I was?" He was becoming more and more excited by the second.

"Autumn Tree." I squealed in fright.

"White Robed Witch."

We said each other's character names like a secret code before he pulled me into a warm hug.

"SuGe. I can't believe I would ever meet you in real life. How have you been? It has been a long time. So much as happened. There is so much I want to talk to you about." I said in awe before tearing up a little in his embrace.

"XiaoBaiBai, you have returned. I knew you would show up one day. You can tell me anything. I want to hear about everything. We have time now." MuQiu held me tightly in his arms for a long time before letting go. Even then, he held on my hands yet again like he never wanted to let go again.

x

[Doesn't Dancing Rain simply look amazing!] The announcer yelled into the mic when Project Dancing Rain's art concept showed up on all the screens. The All-Star Weekend audience exploded into cheers. Even though this All-Star Weekend was held in City S, all the fans were ecstatic about the first ever high quality Glory figure made.

[Does Captain Su have any words for Naomi about her design?] The announcer held the mic out to MuQiu.

[I will win the championship, for you.] MuQiu declared in front of all the fans and camera. He stared at me like there was only the two of us here, and no one else existed.

x

"Congratulation on leading Excellent Era to another championship! Is there anything Captain Su want to say." The paparazzi asked during the aftermatch interview between Excellent Era and Samsara.

"Yes." MuQiu reached into his jersey jacket pocket looking for something. He pulled out a small navy velvet box. In front of all the press, audience, and cameras, he said "XiaoBaiBai, let's get married!"

x

Our Future:

After a year, MuQiu retired as a pro player and left Excellent Era to Ye Xiu. He bought an two bedroom apartment in City H for the two of us to settle down in. I still made figures for Glory Co., although more off site and work from home now. MuQiu still worked at Excellent Era, but now at the training camp as a coach, offering advices to the younger player striving for Glory. MuQiu and I continued played Glory for fun nowadays. It will always be the place where we first met and fell in love. Although, we had been playing a lot less lately due to many other things that require our attention currently.

"So part A gets screwed in with part B and then what wait?" MuQiu read the same line of direction over and over again. He was currently trying put together a baby's crib.

"You can put together a computer blindfolded, yet you can't put together a crib?" I teased. I picked up the direction and took a glance. The picture direction looked pretty straightforward, but I wasn't going to offer any assistance. It was pretty funny seeing MuQiu struggle. Also, to be completely fair, I was really pregnant at the moment. MuQiu, the protective and wonderful husband, wouldn't allow me to do anything but to sit in a chair or bed. I needed this entertainment.

"So Ye Xiu and MuCheng called to make sure that you want that guy as the godfather." MuQiu said casually as he worked.

"We agreed that we would pick one person each. You picked your sister as the godmother so I picked Old Han as the godfather. With him, who would mess with our little princess. Did Ye Xiu make a fuss about that again? I won't change my mind. Even though he is your best friend, I would never let him be the godfather since he is a lazy asshole." I was firm on this topic.

"Honey! Language! The baby might hear you!" MuQiu quickly came over and put two hands on the sides of my baby bump like that would cover the baby's ears.

"I'm sure she didn't." I rolled my eyes at his meaningless action.

"You never know. She might come out kicking and swearing. Whose fault would that be if that happened?" He scolded.

"I doubt she will. But I think I like to see that. Maybe I should start to swear more. As-" I was cut off with a quick kiss on the lips.

"Sh-" Another peck on the lips.

"Fu-" Another peck.

"Oi. St-" Another kiss.

"Enough. I wasn't even going to swear that time." I held MuQiu's face a little away from mine own. "Although this isn't bad." I smiled and leaned in to kiss him this time.

"What to do with you. I hope you are not as much as a handful as your mom." MuQiu let out a sigh and rubbed my belly fondly.

"Who knows. We will find out eventually. Either way, I can't wait to meet her."

"Me too. Come out soon little Princess. Mommy and Daddy are waiting for you." MuQiu kissed my belly though the shirt and whispered softly to the baby. "I love you." MuQiu looked up into my eyes this time. His hand still held onto mine after all these years.

"I love you too." I grip his hand back, never wanting to let go.

x

In a parallel world, he and I had the same beginning, but we had a happily ever after.

x

Fin.

* * *

A/N: This was actually kinda fun to write. Sorry if it turned out too sweet since I wrote it on the spot while watching Asian dramas. Hope some of you like this AU ending!


	35. In City Q

Introducing Lin's family.

* * *

The hot and humid air was the first thing that hit me when I arrived in City Q. I had only stepped out of the pleasantly air conditioned airport for only a second, but I already felt like melting from the heat. My clothing was starting getting soaked from a mixture of sweat and the moisture in the air.

"How was your vacation?" Lin greeted me at the domestic arrival exit.

"Too short. Although, technically I'm still on vacation. I don't start working until tomorrow. Hm…Lin, who is that?" I pointed to a kid that held on Lin's hand and was half hidden behind Lin's chunky figure.

"Oh this is my son, Lin KangBao(林康宝). He is 7 years old. Nickname is DaBao (大宝)(1). He wanted to come and meet you." Lin picked up his son like he weighed nothing and laughed.

"Hi DaBao." I gave the kid a friendly wave. I was honestly surprised that DaBao, unlike his dad, was a skinny little kid. He must gotten those genes from his mom side.

DaBao flushed red from the cheeks to the ears when we made eye contact briefly. He immediately hugged his dad around the neck and hid his face in Lin's shoulders. Well, it seemed like I was terrible with children since I had just frighted one without doing anything.

"That's not nice, DaBao. You wanted to come to meet her. You should at least say hi back. Say 'Hi Aunty(阿姨) (2).' Sorry Naomi, he is actually your fan."

"Hi Aunty." DaBao said shyly before hiding his cute little face again. But the use of Aunty made me want to cough up blood. I knew I was no longer a kid myself anymore, but the use of Aunty was still a bit much. It made me feel really old. I just turned 23 earlier in the year and still a kid in my heart!

"Does this mean your family came with you to City Q?" I asked.

"Yea. DaBao just finished his first year of school and is now on summer break. My wife and I decided to come to City Q as a family for a vacation while I was here for work. The weather is perfect for the beaches this time of the year."

"It looks like I finally get to meet the missus."

"I have a feeling you two would get along exceptionally well." But Lin made it sound like a bad thing.

x

During the taxi ride to the designated hotel, DaBao finally broke out of his shell. He sat between Lin and I, and kept on asking me this and that like a normal curious kid.

"So you really are the White Robed Witch?" He asked.

"Yes, I am her owner."

"Why don't you look like her?"

"She is only a gaming character. Most people don't look like their in game characters."

"You are not as pretty as her. I'm a bit disappointed. But I will still consider dating you when I'm grown up!"

"Thanks?" I said a bit unsure. Was this a compliment or insult? I didn't know.

"DaBao. That's not a nice thing to say. Sorry about that Naomi." Lin apologized from the other side.

"...haha." Kids had really weird ideas in their heads and were really blunt nowadays.

x

After a short cab ride and many word tortures from DaBao, we finally arrived at the hotel that was set up for us by Tyranny. At this time, I didn't know how much more my heart could take from all the things the kid was saying to me.

"Did you have a good time DaBao?" A pretty lady that looked like she could be an actress or model greeted us when we exited the yellow vehicle. She was wearing the perfect white flowy summer dress for the weather and a straw hat with a big brim. If she was on a beach with a gentle breeze, it would have looked liked a picture from a fashion magazine.

"Mom!" DaBao let go of Lin's hand and darted straight to the woman. I stared at the woman and took a look at Lin again. How did this very average looking man with a big beer belly marry this really good looking woman was one of the mysteries in life.

"Did you meet her? Did you meet her?" A girl with pigtails, and seemingly endless energy, bounced up and down by the woman's side. She looked the same age as DaBao.

"Twins?" I asked.

"Yea. This my wife, Yang AnChen(杨安晨). My daughter, Lin KangMei(林康美). We just call her MeiMei(美美) for short." Lin introduced me to his wife and daughter once we walked closer. "Honey, this my co-worker, Naomi. MeiMei say hi."

"Hi Aunty Naomi." MeiMei greeted me politely. But to me, it was like another stab in my heart. I almost wanted to kneel over.

"Thank you for putting up with him at work." AnChen greet next with a handshake.

"At not all. Lin has been very helpful." Lin's wife and I exchanged small talks.

"You are really pretty. Are you an actress?" I couldn't help to wonder. I have to know! If she is someone famous, I should grab her signature or something.

"Haha. You are so sweet." Yang AnChen laughed angelically. "I'm actually part owner and one of the pastry chef of a bakery in City B. After having the twins, I drop down to only working part time."

"Which bakery?" I asked with a bit too much excitement. The word pastry was enough to make a sweets lover like me be interested.

"Dreamy Cakes (蛋糕梦)."

"No way! The most famous cake shop in City B? There is always a line of people waiting outside daily before the shop opens. The average wait time to just get inside is usually 30 minutes. The cakes of the day usually sell out before noon. That Dreamy Cakes?" My eyes lit up with recognition. I recited the information from the wiki page like a devoted fan. The apology cake from YueHua was also from this famous cake shop. After eating that delicious cake, I just couldn't forget about it. I dreamt of the day when we would meet again.

"Yes! You must be a fellow cake lover." AnChen's eyes lit up too after meeting a fan. "I will have Lin give you a VVIP platinum membership card for the shop when we get back City B. You can avoid the line this way, earn points, and get special discounts. Usually this cost 400 RMB per month, but you can have it for free."

"Thank you! Long live the cake empress!" I worshipped. If the ground was clean and more comfortable, I would totally get down on my knees and do a bow like how they do it in historical dramas.

The VVIP platinum membership card was a super rare top tier membership that only maybe 10 people currently have. The people who have this member were treated like celebrities by fellow cake lovers and the shop employees. This wasn't a normal membership that you just get by submitting an application and paying the monthly fee. This was truly a great honor bestowed upon me.

"Hohohoho. It isn't much!" AnChen laughed haughtily.

"Hey Dad. Are they okay?" The twins asked Lin.

"Don't look at them. Let's head inside and pretend we don't know them. You two want ice cream?" Lin lead the twins away by the hand.

"Okay!" The twins were easily bribed by the promise of ice cream.

x

"We have breakfast with Tyranny's owner and Captain Han tomorrow morning at 7. Don't be late. Captain Han hates tardiness. Make sure you make wake up on time. We will most likely go over the details and timeline of the Project there. You should bring your sketches. Hopefully we can come to a decision by lunch. An Chen and I wanted to take the kids to the beach tomorrow afternoon. Tyranny's boss also invite us to a open rooftop seafood dinner tomorrow night. Make sure you wear at least something evening casual or formal wear. I heard the place is pretty fancy." Lin list off our schedule for the next day while I started to unpack in my room.

"I'm guessing t-shirts and shorts isn't going to cut it. I wasn't notified of the dinner beforehand. I might need to buy something today then." I frowned as I went over my clothing inventory.

"My family was going to go to the nearby mall for sweets and to pick up souvenirs. You want to tag along? An Chen is pretty fashionable. She might be able to help you out."

"Before we all head out, how about lunch first!" AnChen popped into my room with the twins and handed out some handmade sandwiches.

x

Lin's and my room were across the hall from each other. It was easy and convenient to find the other party when we needed something. My door was also open to the hallway to get some of the freezing cold air out of my room. The temperature was turned down to 65 degrees fahrenheit, which was too chilly for me. My perfect temperature range was in the low 70s.

"These look great! I will help myself." I took a triangular half sandwich that looked picture perfect.

"AnChen, is that the sandwiches you made? Naomi, don't eat it!" Lin warned. But it was too late, I already took a big bite out of the sandwich.

The perfect looking sandwich that looked like it came straight from a cooking magazine didn't taste so good. It was sweet, spicy, salty, with a bit of floral aftertaste? My sensitive taste buds were confused to no end. For the lack of better word, the sandwich was really gross.

"W-water." I choked out after forcing myself to swallow the bite. I didn't want to offend An Chen by spitting out her cooking in front of her.

"Here Aunty Naomi." MeiMei went to the fridge and grabbed me a bottled water.

"Thanks, Kiddo." I drained the whole bottle without even meaning to.

"AnChen, we talked about this. You should really stay away from the kitchen, Honey."

"I tried really hard to follow the recipe this time though. I only added a few things to fancy it up." An Chen pouted cutely. I could see where DaBao and MeiMei get their cuteness from now; definitely not from Lin.

x

"Sorry about that Naomi. I should have warned you sooner. My wife is amazing at making sweets, but she can't cook any regular food at all. Her food might look really good, but the taste is always questionable. That's why I do most of the cooking at home when I can. She is always thinking of making new cakes. Somewhere along her normal cooking, she would put in weird cake stuff without meaning to." Lin offered me a lollipop he had in his pocket, probably for his kids, to help clean out the taste in my mouth.

"Here Naomi. Dad made these sandwich. These are safe." DaBao ran across the hallways and got me some different sandwiches.

"I didn't know you could cook so well, Lin." I was pretty amazed. These sandwiches didn't look like food models from a food advertisement, but they were really good!

"Dad's cooking is amazing!"

"We love dad's food!"

The twins said at the same time.

"If you can cook so well, why do you always buy lunch at the company?" I asked Lin. Lin gave me a panicked look like I just let out his biggest secret and looked at his wife.

"Oooo. Dad is in trouble!" The twins sang.

"Lin Jiang, so you been buying lunch at work, huh?" An Chen said with a false calmness. I could feel a storm coming. Oops.

"Honey, I can explain. Really!" Lin cowered before his wife.

"What did we talk about? You should be a good example for your kids to eat packed lunches so it will be healthier and save money. That's why we don't take them to any fast food places. Yet you been sneaking around my back to eat out. I was starting to wonder why you haven't shed any weight despite not eating out." AnChen ranted angrily while putting Lin into a headlock.

"Naomi eats out all the time too!" Lin pointed to me while I was trying to crawl my way out of the room unnoticed.

"Don't drag me into this!" I hissed at Lin like a cat. This was a domestic dispute between husband and wife, don't bring me into this Lin! I groaned mentally.

"Naomi. I know you are young. But eating out all the time isn't good. Your metabolism will slow down the older you get. If you are not careful now, you might become fat like Lin when you get older. You don't want to look like Lin when you are older right? I know it's hard since you are a career woman living alone. I will make sure to have Lin bring healthy lunches for both of you from now on. Or I will take away your super rare VVIP platinum membership card and ban you from Dreamy Cakes for life. " An Chen immediately came to me, grasped my hand, and blackmailed me while giving me a gentle smile. Are you sure you weren't an actress An Chen?

"Ah...okay." I didn't have a chance going against this woman. The thought of being banned from Dreamy Cakes by one of the owners without having been there once in my lifetime terrified me too much.

"Good. Good. Let's all eat lunch and then get ready for the mall. We have so much to talk about Naomi. Tell me what cakes flavors are popular with young people nowaday. I heard you were single. One of the employees at Dreamy Cakes have a son about your age that's single. From pictures, he is handsome and unique. I could set something up for you guys." The looming feeling of doom vanished as quickly as it came. Everything went back to normal and a different looming feeling of doom settled in.

The was the first time in my life that I have experience the expression: behind every great man is a great woman. Maybe a bit terrifying, but great.

* * *

(1)大宝 - Lin's son's name literally means 'Big Treasure'

(2)阿姨 - a respectfully greeting for an adult female, more like 'Ma'am' or 'Miss'. Not a blood related aunt.

P.S. There will be another chapter tomorrow. =)

* * *

A/N: Thank you for reading 34 chapter of my writing. I have been rereading some of my old chapters and it was hard. Super appreciate everyone have kept up with this fanfic. Hope you all will look forward to the future chapters and some fun bonus extra scenes coming up (TWRW currently written to chapter 40)

To Deer-Silence: Thank you for reviewing in the last chapter. Hope you like the Omake even though it was a bittersweet. YiFan hugs are best 3 He is just too adorable.


	36. Just Take my Wallet!

A/N: A more fanservice chapter, hope you guys like.

* * *

Seven on the dot in the morning, Lin and I met up with Tyranny's boss and Old Man Han at Tyranny's entrance. Tyranny's boss looked like any other fat middle aged guy in a suit, nothing special to note. Old Han looked intimidating as ever with his slight frown and furrow between his brow. He probably already have a premature lines forming from frowning so much.

"Welcome, welcome. Let's go to the cafeteria to eat." Tyranny's boss gestured the two of us inside, excited to show off Tyranny's facilities.

Old Man just gave a grunt and nod for greeting. If I was reading Han WenQing correctly, he didn't seem pleased about something. Since he was glaring my way, I assume that he was mad at me perhaps.

x

There weren't too many people in the cafeteria since it was summer break. There was one person there I did recognize though.

"Ah. It looks like our timely Vice Captain is here eating too." Tyranny's boss pointed out Zhang XinJie and the person sitting at the same table across the room when we entered the room. "Oh and that's our newly transferred over player Lin JingYan. Let's grab food and join them. Feel free to grab anything from the breakfast bar. We recently hired a new chef. His cooking is pretty tasty if I do say so myself." The big boss bragged.

After grabbed soymilk and youtiao, we went to sit at the table with the other two players. Tyranny's boss really didn't plan this out very well. It was soon became apparent that the table was cramp for 6 people. I was currently squeezed between Old Man and Lin JingYan. I had no elbow space; no one could eat comfortably this way.

"Ah, it seem like I didn't plan this out too well. The table is a bit cramped for six adults isn't it?" Tyranny's boss said with a sweatdrop. "Well let me just introduce these two to you two. Lin JingYan, you just came to us a few days ago so you probably don't know yet. This is Naomi and Lin from Glory Co. Naomi is also the owner of the White Robed Witch. They are here to make a figure for Desert Dust! Please take care of them while they are here this week."

Lin JingYan and I made eye contact. Something seem to spook Lin JingYan. He seem to lose his grip on his spoon for his rice porridge, and the spoon dropped to the floor with a clink. I was starting to think maybe I was scary looking. This was the second time this week I scared someone by making eye contact.

"Here." I helped picked up the spoon on the floor and handed to Lin JingYan.

"Thanks. Hm. Sorry about the brick. I wasn't aiming for you in particular, Sister-in-law (大嫂)(1)!" Lin JingYan sprouted randomly. This earned him awkward stares from everyone around the table.

"Brick? Sister-in-law?" I asked.

"A few days in game, you got hit by a brick. You said you'd complain to him in person when you got here." Zhang XinJie reminded me the events from a few days ago. I guess I did vaguely remember getting hit by a brick in game and said something along those lines. My memory was a bit fuzzy at best.

"Still, who is your sister-in-law? I'm not that old! Jeez men nowadays." I scolded the older male besides me. "Oh, so it was you that threw that black brick at me. Ahaha. I don't actually remember that well. You have good aim in game hahaha." I laughed lightheartedly after I got over being called old.

"Oh, you guys have met in game already?" Tyranny's boss asked with a bit of interest. Right now, he seem to be the odd one out.

"Yea. We came across each other a few times in game for materials. He have one hell of an aim. It looks Tyranny have a great line up for the next season." I put in some sweet flattery words to the Tyranny's boss like I have heard Lin say to Tiny Herb's and Samsara's boss previously. Tyranny's boss seemed extremely pleased at the generic compliment though.

"Knowing you, you probably deserved it." Old Man commented under his breath.

"What was that?" I whispered back, daring Old Han to repeat it a bit louder.

"Your hearing must be going bad too along with your memory. I didn't say anything." Old Man said more clearly this time around.

x

After the initial lighthearted events in the morning. It was straight to business after the four of us moved to a different table.

"Let's go with the sand themed base. The character name is Desert Dust so it will match his name." Tyranny's picked out one of base designs I drawn up.

"Sure, we can do that." I said. I had to bite my tongue a lot during this meeting. Tyranny's boss were picking out designs for a lot of nonsense reasons. By his logic, for Cloud Piercer, his character base should have been walking in clouds instead of the rough dirt terrain he was posed on. The old western terrain feel really gave Cloud Piercer a wild cowboy feel that was super popular with fans.

"I think we should pose Desert Dust using his level 70 ultimate move, Ferocious Tiger Flurry."

"I can try, but I think it will look a bit messy to try to like sculpt so many fists around him."

"Then, can we have Desert Dust less scary looking?" Tyranny's boss suggested again. Now this time the request was a bit unreasonable.

"I think he looks fine though. I mean that's pretty much Captain Han's normal expression." I pointed to Old Han's face for example. "Unless you think there is something wrong with his face…" I laced my words with hidden blackmail. "What is your opinion Captain Han?"

"..." Old Han stayed silent as he stared at all the different art concept in front of him. His frown was a little deeper than usual. I was pretty sure he was silent because he couldn't make heads and tails of the sketches because they all looked the same to him. I smiled; he was a giant idiot when it came to artistic stuff like these. But at the moment, it was useful for me that he was making that face.

Tyranny's boss took a quick glance at Old Han's face and gulped. He had taken Old Han's furrowing of the eyebrow and silence as offense. "Haha. I was wrong, there is nothing wrong with Desert Dust's expression after all. You are truly a genius to capture it so accurately."

"Right?" I grinned innocently.

"If we are done, I'd like to set up somewhere to start finalizing the concept art. Lin here also have another important event to go to this afternoon that he can't afford to miss." I looked at the time when we neared the end of the meeting, it was already close to noon. Lin should get going to meet up with the rest of his family soon.

"Sure. Captain Han will take you to the computer lab to get set up on one of the computers. Lin, thank you for your help. You are such a busy guy. See you tonight at dinner?"

"Haha. Not as busy as Naomi makes me seem. I promised I would take the wife and kids to the beach this afternoon. But, I will be at dinner."

"Your whole family is here? Bring them to dinner tonight. I love to meet them." Tyranny's boss offered generously. It was unknown if Tyranny's boss really wanted Lin's family there or not. It was all business talk of course, no one wanted to come off cheap.

"I can't possibility impose."

"It's fine, it's fine."

"My kids are really young. They would just get in the way tonight."

"It's fine. Tonight is just for fun, not for business. Bring the family. It's fine."

The two men went back and forth on fake pleasantry that put me to sleep.

"Old Han, just tell Lin to bring the family. I'm sure he would listen to you. This is taking forever." I whispered to Old Man as we watched the two older men talked in circles like a boring soap opera.

"Lin." Han WenQing said like an emperor, leaving no room for argument. "I will see you and your family tonight."

"Okay!" Lin exclaimed with glee from a personal invitation from one of his favorite Glory idol. It was like a dream come true for him.

"Thanks for getting those two old mans finally talking in loops." I smiled up at Old Han as we saw Lin off in a taxi. He looked emotionless as usual though.

"Let's talk." Old Han lead me by the hand to Tyranny's practice room.

"Huh?" I tried to wiggle my hand out of Old Han's grip, but he just tightened his hold until it almost hurt. I had an ominous feeling somehow I was in big trouble.

x

"Let's fight. Let's see if you have improved any." Old Man Han gestured to the computer besides him.

"I am here to work on Project Desert Dust. Isn't this considered slacking?" My question was answered with a glare. "Okay, okay. You seem in a bad mood today."

"I am not." Han WenQing replied like a stubborn sulking kid.

"If you say so. Let's fight!" I readied my White Robed Witch. She twirled her spear/staff duo weapon easily in her hands.

"Fight." Old Han declared as he charged towards me in the Arena.

Too obvious. I thought. I have seen him using this move so many times that I could predict what he planned to do. He would side-step my character and attack me from behind. Without looking I stabbed the spear end behind my character.

Hit.

The White Robed Witch was sent flying from a Collapsing Fist from the front.

Instead of behind my character like I had seen him do many times previously, he crouched low to the ground and attacked me directly from the front, below my line of sight. He also didn't follow up with Whirlwind Kick like he usually would. He comboed me with Dashing Jab, High Kick, and Eagle Stamp.

I guarded high, he attacked low. I guarded left, he attacked right. Sometimes, he would even feint an old habit to lure me into his next attack. Every habit I knew of Old Man Han had changed. He fought with a playstyle that I was not longer familiar with. It looked the Old Man had learned new tricks.

"Your enemies will have a lot surprises to look forward to next season." I let out a heavy breath that I had been holding after I eventually lost. "You feel better after beating me up?"

"No." Han WenQing got up from his seat, spun my chair suddenly to face him. He trapped me between the computer chair and his sturdy body in the dim computer room that was only lit by our computer screens.

"W-what are you doing?!" I shouted. I very startled by his actions.

My heart thumped loudly in my chest. Old Han's look was more intense and overbearing than usual. I had a hard time looking at him in the eyes. My eyes darted around the room as I tried to pick a spot to look at. Oh look, that digital clock behind Old Han looked especially interesting right now. I could finally understand how someone being bullied for lunch money at school would feel. I wanted to hand my wallet to Old Han to get out of this.

There was something wrong with this scene. Why was I alone with this guy in the room? Where was everyone else? Oh right, they were all home on break. Zhang XinJie and Lin JingYan went to the club house to help out for the day. Lin, you are my only hope! Come back! What had I done to deserve this?

"Explain yourself. Why were you helping Ye Xiu?" He leaned in a little closer and almost growled when he mentioned the name of his longtime rival.

Ooooh. So, that's why he was in a bad mood. Zhang XinJie and Lin JingYan must have mentioned something to him. He was now acting like a kid who doesn't want to his friend to play with someone else. "Don't be like this Old Man. We all been long time friends. You know I have been neutral between the two of you since the beginning." I booped him in the nose to break up the tense atmosphere.

"Still, I don't like it." He grumbled.

"Would it make you feel better if I helped Tyrannical Ambition while I am here this week?"

"Yes." He patted me on head and sank back into his own seat. "You will help Tyrannical Ambition this week from this computer right besides me. I will monitor to make sure you don't run off to help Ye Xiu again."

"Alright, you possessive man child." I smiled at the pouty Han WenQing. I guess even he could be cute sometimes.

* * *

Extra Chapter Bonus (1):

"Lin." Han WenQing said like an emperor, leaving no room for argument. "I will see you and your family tonight."

"Okay!" Lin exclaimed with glee from a personal invitation from one of his favorite Glory idol. It was like a dream come true for him. Tyranny's boss, on the other hand, sighed and started to count the money in his wallet after thinking about the extra mouths to feed tonight.

* * *

Bonus Chapter Material: Fancy Dinner

The rooftop restaurant was located on top of one of the tallest building in City Q. The view of the ocean was unobstructed by nearby skyscrapers. When we were all seated, the sky was painted a lovely shade of purple and orange from the sunset. The picturesque scene should have been the star tonight, but somehow it was lost to this group of video gaming people.

If even the perfect sunset went unnoticed, there was no hope for my evening outfit to catch anyone's eye either.

"Men. Your beauty is lost on them." AnChen sighed and took me to a nearby spot without people. "Come, stand at this balcony. Let's take some pictures."

I had gone back to the hotel and changed before dinner. I wore an orange and black high low dress that bought the day previous. The dress reminded me of the monarch butterfly. The light chiffon material on the dress danced as the ocean winds blew around me.

Old Han and the rest of the pro-player took a glance at me when I arrived before diving back into their current conversation. Only Tyranny's boss complimented me on how lovely looked out of courtesy before launching into a conversation about Project Desert Dust with me.

While I was drawing my day away, the news of the youngest player ever join the Pro Alliance exploded over the internet. The three pro players were currently busy discussing what could be the role of youngster Lu HanWen in Blue Rain. The kid was only 14 and played a Swordmaster. Blue Rain was currently not lacking someone to replace Huang ShaoTian's shoes right now. The men debated, conjectured, but in the end they could only wait and see when season 9 starts.

x

"Turn your body halfway and look at the ocean." An Chen gave me direction like a professional photographer as she took one picture after another.

"Aunty Naomi is so pretty! I want a picture with her and mom too!" MeiMei ran and hugged my legs.

"I want a picture too! She is going to be my girlfriend in the future." DaBao announced proudly.

"Haha. I'm afraid she is to be taken by the time you grow up my son." AnChen told DaBao he truth without any hesitation. "Mom is going to set her up with a nice man. I'm sending his mom her pictures right now. I'm afraid you have no chance, even though you are my son."

"No way! You have to wait for me to grow up Naomi." DaBao grabbed my hand and pouted.

"What you all talking about? Sounds like a lot of fun. Food is starting to arrive. Come back to your seats." Lin came to get us. He wrapped an arm around his wife's waist.

"You guys should get a family picture together before it gets too dark." I offered politely.

After snapping a few picture for Lin's family, we returned to the table.

x

Sweet Nectar Fried Shrimp (蜜汁炸虾), Heavenly Crab Soup (美味蟹肉汤), dishes with fancy names started to arrive one after another. To show off his generosity and wealth, Tyranny's boss probably ordered way too much food for the number of people present.

When the food had arrived, the sun was also almost submerged below the ocean horizon. The sky turned dark, and the stars came out to play. However, with the coming of evening, the pleasant warm ocean breath also turned chilly.

The men probably didn't notice the temperature drop at all since they were all wearing casual suits. AnChen was smart enough to bring a knitted night shawl and brought cute jackets for the twins. I had already spend a bit of money on the evening dress and shoes, and was too cheap to buy a shawl too. Now I was paying the price by freezing.

"Achoo." I sneezed away from the food and shivered noticeably when the main course was done and the servers came with the dessert menus.

The time was already around nine. Two hours had already passed since we arrived at the restaurant. The color of the ocean and sky blended into a big canvas of black with speckles of silvery stars for decoration. The temperature was the only mid-60s but because of the wind chill, it felt colder than the actual temperature.

Out of nowhere, I was covered with something warm. I sat between Old Han and DaBao, but I doubt this was DaBao's jacket. His tiny jacket probably wouldn't cover my shoulders. DaBao had wanted to sit by me because he wanted to keep me safe from Old Han. He even said to his mom and dad one point that Han WenQing seemed like a bad guy so he needed to keep his future girlfriend safe from the bad guy. Aww, kids were so cute sometimes.

I pulled the jacket closer and inhaled deeply to confirm. Yup this was definitely the smell of the body wash I smelled earlier today from Old Han. Wearing his jacket somehow made me feel warmer and safer in this cold night.

"Thanks, Old Man."

"No problem, Brat."

* * *

Extra Chapter Bonus (2):

Old Han and the rest of the pro-player took a glance at me when I arrived before diving back into their current conversation. Only Tyranny's boss complimented me on how lovely looked out of courtesy before launching into a conversation about Project Desert Dust with me. Somewhere in my heart, I felt a bit disappointed. I pouted and wanted to yell, "Notice me senpai!"

* * *

I drew again! This time of Naomi's orange and black dress. If interested, you can see it at

All TWRW artwork have been moved from google photos to DA for more convenient sharing.

Also have a picture of Naomi's pets irl/were based off there.


	37. Strict Parental Controls

Edit: A/N: TKA OVA ep1 is out =) Was out on Friday 4/27. Check Youtube!

* * *

They say idiots can't catch a cold, but I somehow still got sick. I guess that proved that I was not an idiot or too much of an idiot. I caught a cold after being exposed to evening breeze for a prolonged period of time on the second night in City Q. I wasn't super sick at least. Just an itchy feeling on the back of my throat, runny nose, and a low grade fever. Nothing to get in the way of work.

For the week I was at Tyranny, I spend the mornings working on Project Desert Dust and helping Tyrannical Ambition with wild bosses in the afternoons. Old Han sat next to me hours unend running simulations and practicing his new techniques. Besides going to get lunch together, we didn't actually interacted with each other all that much.

"What did I miss this morning?" I asked Zhang XinJie and Lin JingYan when I rendezvoused with the two in game after lunch one day.

"We took down 2 bosses without any problems this morning." Zhang XinJie reported. I had a feeling, he would be the type of person to push up his glasses when he said that.

"I just got a report another wild boss had spawned." A character named Wandering Peak came running to report.

"Who are you?" I asked. The adults were talking. Who was this Wandering Peak trying to sit at the adult table?

"I'm Tyrannical Ambitions Guild Master, Jiang You (蒋游)."

"Soy sauce (酱油)(1)?" Who named their kid soy sauce?

"Wrong characters, Goddess." Wandering Peak send over a crying emoji.

x

Without Ye Xiu causing trouble for Zhang XinJie and Lin JingYan, it made fighting over the wild bosses very boring for me. Samsara and Herb Garden were the first to discover the boss. However, once Tyrannical Ambition got wind of the news and joined the fray, how could both of those guilds without a Master Technician helping them stand any chance?

Without a Master Technician helping them didn't mean an expert wasn't helping then. There was a swordmaster with extremely quick hand speed on Herb Garden's side that stood out. However, in a wild boss battle, one strong player doesn't make all that much difference if it can't work well with the rest of the players.

Under the commands of Master Technician Zhang XinJie and old general Lin JingYan, Tyrannical Ambition tore through the other two guilds like a hot knife through butter. Even Herb Garden's powerful swordmaster, along with all its regular players, was quickly suppressed.

I did recall there was someone from Tiny Herb that played a Swordmaster with extremely high hand speed. It had awhile since I last interacted with them, some of their names were hard for me to remember nowadays.

"Liu XiaoBie." Old Han said with a glance at my screen.

"Think Tiny Herb is also trying to get wild boss materials? If Wang JieXi join in too, it's gonna be a problem don't you think?" I stepped back from the battlefield to get a good view of the Herb Garden's side and was relieved to have not spot any witch character that stood out like a sore thumb.

"That guy won't waste his time in game unless something required his attention." Old Man shook his head.

"Oh, there is that Deception guy again." I noticed the Ninja from before. "Hey Zhang XinJie, Lin JingYan, spare me a healer or two. I need to take care of a stealing rat."

"What he do to you?" Old Han asked curiously since he personally wasn't too involved with in game situations.

"Can't you tell? He picks up equipments that people drops after they die in battle. He is a bottom feeder, but he is picky. He took my stuff before!" I told half truth and half lie. Deception actually never took my stuff before, but I couldn't say because Ye Xiu asked me to either in front of Old Han.

"What? That guy stole Goddess equipment before? Despicable! We will help." Some of the nearby players spat.

"That's normal in Glory. Go beat him up a few times until you are satisfied." Old Han said a bit nonchalantly in comparison to fired up Tyrannical Ambition's members.

"Help heal me, debuff him, and make sure he doesn't escape. But don't interfere otherwise okay?" I said to the helpers that were send my way.

"Yes Goddess!"

x

Once again, I engaged Deception in battle. With a few people helping me this time around, I eventually won. I won't lie, I had trouble defeating Deception. If it wasn't for all the Heals and Scared Flames, I most likely would have really died under his blade instead.

I could see he was a skillful player; no wonder Ye Xiu was interested in him. But I didn't know why Ye Xiu wanted me to kill him every time I saw him. It was a weird to way to try to recruit someone to your team if you asked me. Besides, did Deception even know Ye Xiu was the one behind everything? Come to think of it, the two of us never really got to exchange any words any time we fought. He wasn't the type to talk, and he kept me busy from talking. Poor Deception. I kind of pitied him a little in my heart.

After Tyrannical Ambition won the wild boss easily, it was back to waiting for the next one. I quickly grew bored. I yawned after taking a quick look over the recent transfers eNews in the Pro Alliance. After that, I watched Old Han do his character control exercises for a while.

Old Han let me try their team's training simulation with the White Robed Witch sometimes. I struggled but couldn't very far in the same jumping simulation Han WenQing was doing. I pouted a bit; he made it look so easy too. I kicked his chair when I got frustrated. The sudden jerk of the chair startled him and made him lose control of his character. Desert Dust missed a step and fell, thus failing the simulation.

"Childish." He humphed my way before returning to his training.

After killing more time, I opened up a window to watch a Chinese drama called "The Familiar Stranger". The show was recommended to me by SuSu to fill time when I spent most of my days alone in City H. The show had a pretty predictable plot, but at least the male actor in the show was good eye candy. Old Han shook his head at me when he saw me drool over the male lead. After watching a little over an episode, Zhang XinJie messaged me on QQ that a wild boss has appeared.

"Yes! Let's go!"

x

The White Robed Witch dashed her way quickly to the wild boss map. However, when I got there, the two Tyrannical Ambition troops lead by the two pro players were just idling about.

"What's going on? Is the four alliance here already? Seems a bit early for them to show up. What you guys looking at?" I made my way to the two generals to see what they were intently watching. I checked the time to make sure too. It was only 4:45pm. Ye Xiu wouldn't show up until at least after 6, depending how late everyone slept this morning.

"No, they are not here yet. There is a high chance that the player from Blue Brook's side is Blue Rain's new player, Lu HanWen." Lin JingYan said.

"Where?"

"Flowing Cloud. The Blademaster fighting against Liu XiaoBie from Herb Garden's side." Zhang XinJie pointed out the fierce ongoing battle between the two Blademasters. Sword aura from the two clashed perfectly one strike after another at superhuman speed. More people from Blue Guild and Herb Garden seemed to be watching the two in a circle than fighting over the wild boss. I bet that wild boss was feeling a bit sad being ignored at the moment.

"Flowing Cloud is Lu HanWen?!" I finally connected the two dots in my head. No wonder Blue Bridge kept calling Flowing Cloud Little Lu! I made a mental note to bother Blue Bridge later to see if I could hang out with the Flowing Cloud. I got to make sure Ye Xiu didn't discourage the kid to much by killing him too much in game. If Flowing Cloud was that child genius, then "It is no wonder his skills were pretty impressive." I thought and spoke out loud at the same time.

"God Ye came looking for you, Vice Captain Zhang." A normal player reported. Thinking about Ye Xiu, Ye Xiu seemed to come. I wonder if I think about cake, I will be able to eat delicious cake.

"Is he alone?" Zhang XinJie asked.

"Yes."

"I will go see what he wants." Zhang XinJie said before going to meet Ye Xiu and started some small talks.

"You don't think he was killed, do you?" I asked Lin JingYan a bit worried after Zhang XinJie didn't come back for a while.

"Let's go take a look." Lin JingYan's brawler lead the way through the crowd.

x

Ye Xiu didn't kill Zhang XinJie. The two just chatted while watching the duel between the two Blademasters.

"Liu XiaoBie might lose." Lin JingYan voiced his opinion when we arrived.

"Old Lin, you are finally willing to come out? Oh, XiaoBaiBai is here too?"

"Yea helping Tyrannical Ambition this week." I replied. Ye Xiu didn't seem surprised at this at all.

The gods made more small talks among themselves as we all observed the fight. Among the three gods, I merely a lowly witch. I didn't feel right joining in their conversation and just listened.

Just as quick as the wind changes, one moment the three gods were chatting peaceful, and the next Ye Xiu suddenly attacked Lin JingYan. Well if they started fighting, SuSu wouldn't be slow with her long range support too. If I wasn't careful, I would be caught in the crossfire too. A glowing marker landed at Lin JingYan's feet just as I teleported away as fast as I could.

x

Tyrannical Ambition lost this wild boss to Ye Xiu. The only thing I could say was thank god I was considered a neutral Goddess among the people. As long as I didn't attack Ye Xiu's side, the four alliance didn't attack me either. Once the wild boss died, the three gods went back to standing around watching the two swordmasters together, like the war between the guild didn't just happen moments before.

"It has already close to 30 minutes. This is never ending." I remarked. While the Four Alliance and Tyrannical Ambition fought, I paid more attention to Lu HanWen and Liu XiaoBie's battle than my own surrounding. The Blademasters' momentum never slowed down for one bit this whole time. "I'm so jealous. Young people just have so much more stamina." I let out a jealous sigh.

"You should brush up on your Chinese. People could take the meaning of your words differently." Ye Xiu and Old Han said the same time while the other two pro players went radio silent.

"But ShaBaiBai do have a point for once." Ye Xiu said after watching the fight a while longer.

"Don't call me that and I say a lot of useful things!" I whacked Let There Be Light with my staff. Ye Xiu guarded easily of course.

x

"Ay. Is there no end to this? Stop the heal. When will this fight finish?" Ye Xiu yelled to the Blue Brook and Herb Garden. Both sides glanced at our way but didn't show many signs of stopping, so Ye Xiu yelled again, "What are all of you waiting around for? Kill all the healers!"

This time, Blue Brook and Herb Garden finally reacted and stopped healing. I watched the two Blademaster fight intently while the three gods were engaged in small talk again. Both players eventually ran out of mana and could not use any class skills. They started trade blow for blow with normal attacks. Just as things were looking up for Liu XiaoBie, Lu HanWen glowed with sword aura.

"I Win!" Lu HanWen yelled in the end.

There was an uproar from Herb Garden's side. The players from Herb Garden hissed and shouted profanity to the 14 year old. Lu HanWen had only won because he had ordered a cleric to use Wish Prayer on him at some point so he could recover his mana to use his class skill. In short, he had used a underhanded method to win. In a way, the kid cheated.

"This is a group battle, who ever said it was one on one?" Lu HanWen dismissed the raging Herb Garden players with a simple and logical, yet despicable, explanation.

I couldn't help to adjust my in game view to look at Let There Be Light. Could this kid turned shameless after Ye Xiu beat him up a few times? Maybe Ye Xiu's shameless was contagious. I should distance myself for him and tell YiFan to be careful too. I quickly messaged YiFan to use hand sanitizer often. Can shameless be contained by hand sanitizer?

After this initial exciting conflict between the guilds, everything that happened for the next couple days in game were pretty insipid in comparison. I did tried to sneak off play with Blue Bridge and Little Lu a few times once but was caught by Old Han.

"Where do you think you are heading off to? " Old Han reminded from beside me in the lab. Darn, I forgot he was monitoring my online activities like parental control settings.

"...I was going to go spy on Blue Rain's new member for you guys." I said uneasily. I didn't tell a complete lie, but I didn't tell a complete truth either. Old Man had a face that was really hard to lie to because you know you'd be torn apart if he found out.

"No need. Stop slacking." Old Han saw right through through me.

"Okay." I said with a pout.

Sitting with Old Han hours unend had its perks. If I had a question about his equipment design, all I had to do was take a look at his computer screen or ask him. He didn't care to hide his silver equipment from my eyes because he trusted me and knew I was couldn't make heads and tails of the godly stats if I saw anyways. I finished Project Desert Dust art concept two days before the deadline.

I was pretty happy with how everything came out. Desert Dust charged aggressively towards an invisible enemy with a burning Emperor's Fist. The sand behind him swirled violently like he had kicked up a mini sandstorm. I think this drawing embodied Old Han's spirit pretty well.

"How do you feel about this?" I asked Old Han excited when I drew the final stroke on my tablet and saved my work. I didn't care what he was currently working on and pushed his chair in front of my monitor. "So what you think?" I asked again looking at the screen with him over his shoulder.

"Looks like all your other stick figure drawings." Old Han said rather unimpressed after taking only a glance and returned to his more 'important' training.

"Couldn't you say something nicer than usual since this is your character."

"Looks good. Happy now?"

"No. Not really. The damage has already been done." I pouted.

* * *

(1) Soy Sauce in Chinese is also Jiang You but with a different tone/ slight difference in pronunciation.

* * *

Extras Extras from my Random Idea Vault I

A/N: I had an idea in the very beginning of writing TWRW involving Naomi's pets in some plots. There was a lot problems and holes with the idea so was never put into the actual story. This is unedited work. Might be a bit rough to read. You have been warned!

x

I took a Taxi to City B airport two month after moving here. This Sunday was an exciting day because it was the day my babies would arrive in China and would live with me. Oh, no. Not human babies. My babies are my two dogs and a cat. Their arrival to China was delayed due to strict flying requirements and laws of flying pets between countries. It was a bit of a process and money to get all the necessary paperwork for three animals, but it was worth it. My three animals were on a routing flight from City S to City B right now. We would be reunited soon.

The sun was shining. The sky was blue. There was no cloud in sight and 0 percent chance for rain. My babies was touching down soon. I brought some tasty chicken jerky to greet them. What could possibly go wrong?

When I arrived at the arrival terminal, it was pure chaos at the airport. First, I thought it was just normal airport disorder, but I soon realized there was a situation there. There were quite a few airport staff running all around the building like crazy people. Did someone have a heart attack and no one knew how to do CPR?

[Attention Flyers. We have three pets on the loose. Please stay calm and cooperate with our airport staffs. We apologize for any inconvenience. Thank you for your understanding.] The overhead announcement said.

Well I felt sorry for whoever have their pet on the loose.

I went to one of service desk with three plane ticket numbers. "I'm here to pick up my animals from this flight."

"Ah, sorry ma'am. They are currently...running loose in the airport." The lady at the service desk said a bit hesitant.

"Sorry, what?" I asked again. I must have heard wrong.

"All three of your pets are running around the airport right now. We have a lot of staff trying to catch them though." The lady repeated in a different way nervously.

"WHAT?!" I roared. I couldn't believe three animals on the announcement was my pets. Although, at the same time I wasn't too surprised. My cat and my younger dog could be considered genius for their ability to break out of any carrier. The two partner in crime most likely broke out their elder brother too after their escape.

x

Somewhere else in the same airport, members of Tiny Herb just arrived from an away game. While they were walking pass by the luggage pick up, they saw two small black blurs run pass them.

"What was that? Ghosts?" They wondered after watching two airport staff also ran in the direction of the shadows. This left the team even more confused?

"Meow (Hi)." Was their answer. A grey striped tabby mewed and walked a figure 8 between YiFan's legs.

Cat? Where had a cat come from?

"Meow. (You smell kinda like Mom.)" The Cat purred and headbutted against YiFan's leg.

"Please catch that cat!" An out of breath airport personnelle came this way.

Wang JieXi picked up the cat wordessly.

"Meow? Meow? Meow? (What I do? Who are you? Why your eyes are different sizes?)" The cat mewed again and tilted its head cutely when picked up.

"Thank you for your help catching her. She got out of her cage with other two dogs. Her owner will be happy that she is safe." The staff explained when Wang JieXi when he handed the cat to him.

The cat, being manhandled for a tad too long, struggled against the man's grip and threatened the man with her claws. Fearing being scratched, the man dropped the cat and she took off running.

"Not again!" The tortured airport staff lamented before taking off running again.

x

Liu XiaoBie opened a bag of Cheetos while on the way down to Tiny Herb's team bus at the exit. He had just put a cheesy corn puff into his mouth when he heard whining noises and barks. He wondered if his mp3 or soundtrack malfunctioned.

"Arf, arf. Whine. (OMG! You haz fud. Can I has?)" Two black and tan weiner dogs looked up at the young man with the roundest and cutest puppy eyes ever while licking the side of their mouth.

"Catch those dogs!" Two guys in airport staff uniform ran this way.

Liu XiaoBie and YingJie reached down try to pick up the small elongated dogs.

"Grr! Arf! (No! No touch!)" The two dogs snarled and showed off their teeth before taking off running again.

x

Back to Naomi

I waited for 30 minutes on one of those uncomfortable airport seats. During the time, I saw a lot of different staffs running back and forth while yelling things. They still weren't able to catch my little monsters, but I would give them A+ for their effort of trying.

Just I let out a bored sigh, I heard barking nearby. I recognize those cute little yapping noises anywhere. My babies were close by!

"Max! Mouse! Mimi! Come!" I yelled as loud as I could in English in the middle of the airport while shaking the bag of treat I brought with.

I knew my babies wouldn't forget about me either. Soon, the sound of barking became clearer and louder. Then I saw them pop their little heads over from the second floor escalator.

"Babies! Come here!" I yelled again while breaking open the bag of treat.

The younger dog hoppity skipped down the moving metal stairs towards me with no problem. I leased the little guy as soon as he got close for the treat. But, my older dog whine and barked out of fear. He put his front paw on the strange human machine and he didn't like it.

"Arf! Arf! (Mom! Help!)" Max called from the second floor.

Just in Max's time of need, some familiar faces showed up. Wang JieXi picked up my 13lb dog brought him down the escalator.

"Arf! (Treat!)" Max raced towards me when Wang JieXi released him off the escalator ride.

"Max baby!" I petted the excited hot dog before leasing him too. "Thanks. They wouldn't let me up there to get him." I thanked Wang JieXi.

"These are your dogs?" Wang JieXi asked.

"Yup. Aren't they the cutest things? Oh YingJie, don't touch the small one. He doesn't like to be handled by strangers. You can pet Max though." I said to YingJie when I saw him inching to pet Mouse. Mouse might look cute, but he thought he was the toughest dog in the world. Little dog mentality. "I still have to find the cat too."

"We saw your cat." YiFan appeared from behind all his senior.

"Did you guys catch her?" I asked.

"Then she got away…" YiFan replied.

"Maybe not." I smiled when I saw a grey tail twitching from around a corner. "Wave this around." I took out a piece of long ribbon and handed it to YiFan.

"Ahaha. Are you ribbon dancing?" Some of the senior laughed but was quickly silence by a look from their Captain.

"What does this do?" YiFan asked while waving the ribbon around embarrassed.

"Cat fishing." I smile when I saw my cat running like a small grey cheetah and latching onto the ribbon.

"Gotcha!" I grabbed her and put her into a portable cat carrier.

"Purrrr. (Hi mom.)" She greeted me.

"Thanks for all your guy's help. I still have to finish some paperwork up for these three trouble makers with the airport. I will see you guys later." I said to everyone in Tiny Herb.

"Sister Wang, can YiFan and I play with your dogs and cat sometimes?" YingJie asked eagerly. I could see from his eyes that he loved animals, but his family probably didn't allow him to have one at home. "Sure. I need someone to help me walk them sometimes anyways. Just shoot me a QQ. See you guys around." I waved and walked off with my three babies.

x

A/N: Having pets would be an extra burden Naomi would have. With her work schedule, it's not really realistic to have/take care of the dogs unless she hired a dog sitter or something. In the beginning I did wanted to do more with Naomi's pet in the plot that's why they were mentioned a few times in the early chapters. But, there were just too many problems with this idea so that's why it never made it into the current fanfic. I also didn't like how the writing came out along with other some other issues. And that's why the pets are hardly ever mentioned nowadays. You can assume that they are happy living in the states with Naomi's parents.


	38. A Special Kind of Idiot

A bit busy this weekend, so here is an early update for the week.

* * *

Remember that little cold I got while in City Q? Well, it has developed into a full blown cold. Not to be dramatic, but I felt like I was dying. Fever, congestion, drippy nose, cough, aches, chills. I seemed to have every symptom of the common cold on google to the dot.

My cold took a turn for the worse from small stress factors: not sleeping well in a hotel room, eating food my stomach wasn't familiar with, and the dramatic temperature difference between indoors and outdoors. For the last two days of my days in City Q, I had to spend resting in the hotel bed to get well enough to fly back to City B.

I felt bad for Lin and his family because I kind of ruined their vacation. Lin had to present the final design to Tyranny's boss and Old Han without me. His family also wanted to make sure I got back home safely and wanted to shorten their vacation to leave at the same time as me. After much convincing that they should stay and I would contact Lin every step of my trip back home, AnChen and Lin finally felt reassured enough to let me get on the plane on my own.

x

Old Man Han came to the hotel to visit one of those days too while mumbling how a huge idiot I was to be able to get so sick in the warm summer weather. Well that wasn't his exact words. The whole encounter went something like:

Knock, knock.

Two strong knocks came from the door. Darn, who was knocking so early? I felt around for my phone. When I checked the time, it was already noon. Okay, maybe it wasn't that early anymore. But as a sick person, I needed like 18 hours of sleep.

"Who is it?" I asked in a raspy voice while coughing.

"Han." The one word response was the only thing I got.

Well shoot. I told Lin to let Old Man know I was sick and wouldn't be in the club for the rest of the time I was in City Q, but I didn't think the man himself would come out to visit me.

"Open up. I don't want to be caught by someone passing by." He said again when he didn't a response for a while.

He did have a point. It would be bad for both of us if he were to be caught outside my door. What would the Internet and paparazzi think? Captain Han visiting secret girlfriend at the hotel? Girlfriend in question happened to be young Glory Sculptor? If anyone looked up the name to the hotel room, I would be dragged into this whole mess too. Silently, I unlocked the door.

"I'm really sick. I don't want to get you sick too. You should head back or enter at your own risk." I peek through a crack of the door while let out a few coughs.

"I will take my chances." Old Han pushed open the door and entered without hesitation, then something perked his interest. He smirks, "Nice PJs, Brat."

"Ah?" I asked dumbly before realizing I was still in my chicken drumstick PJ sets. "AH!" I dove under the safety of my bed cover.

"W-what brings you here?" I flustered after being caught in embarrassing PJs. My friends in the states have bought me the PJ set as a joke due to my strong love for fried chicken, especially leg and thigh pieces.

"Checking up a certain idiot."

"I'm not an idiot." I popped my head out of the cover and stuck out my tongue at him.

"Not a normal idiot for sure." Old Han let out a gentle smile that doesn't suit his usual thug like face. The gentle expression was fleeing. It was so short that I thought I had imagined it or have hallucinated from my fever or something.

Old Man put a hand on my forehead to check my temperature. His hand felt cool on my warm skin. I saw his lip twist into a frown instantly at the touch. I knew then his hand wasn't cool; I was just feverish.

"You really are a special idiot to get this sick. I doubt you would go to a hospital?" He said while tucking me.

"No hospitals. Hospitals is where bad things happen and people die." I said stubbornly.

"How are you feeling?" He decided not to question my assumptions and settled on the ground by my bed.

"Sick." I sniffled to add effect.

"If you exercised more regularly, you would have a stronger immune system."

"Exercise hurts."

"That just mean you lack exercise even more, Brat. Also, do you eat your vegetables or do you only eat fried chicken?" He gave me a judgemental look.

"You can't talk to a sick person like that. If you keep on talking to me like that, I'm going to kick you out." I huffed and gave Old Man an ultimatum.

"Alright, alright." He finally dropped the hateful topics of vegetables and exercise.

Han WenQing opened his phone to look up recent Glory eNews to share with me. I adjusted my position on the bed, bringing the bed cover with me as I went, so I could look over his shoulder to read some of the headlines with him on the tiny screen. We talked about some of the interesting transfers and Glory events until his voice lulled me into a deep sleep. I fell asleep on his shoulder mid conversation. Before leaving, Old Man moved my head to the pillow and made sure I was all tucked in.

x

Home sweet home. After sending a text to Lin that I have arrived at my apartment in City B safely, I face planted into my bed. My bed! To be fully honest, I didn't even remember how I got home safely. I only remembered brushing my teeth quickly and stripping down before going to sleep for a really long time. It felt really good to sleep in my own bed again.

If the time and the date on my phone was all correct, I had passed out close to 20 hours. I must say I was pretty popular from all the unread QQ messages on the notification screen.

Lin had messaged me back to let me know he and the family were glad I made it back okay and send a cute picture of them together in front of an aquarium. Old Han also had messaged me to wish me a fast recovery. I thanked both of Lin and Old Han for checking up on me after I woke up from my long slumber.

To Old Han, I also added, [Hope you didn't get sick.]

[I won't. I'm not you.] Old Han quickly replied.

[Shoot straight to the top.]

[Of course.] I smiled. I could almost hear the confidence in his voice as I read his text.

x

The rest of the messages were from Ye Xiu and YiFan. Something big must have happened in Glory. Ye Xiu, while also enlisting YiFan, was asking me urgently to get online and deal with a new troublesome guy that had appeared on Herb Garden's side.

[Can't you just deal with him?] I really didn't feel like dealing with anything today.

While waiting for Ye Xiu's response, I went to wash up and change into a fresh outfit. I draining a full glass of water after a relaxing shower. I probably should eat something too, but didn't feel well enough to. I also didn't have too much real food left at the apartment either.

Besides my snack stash, I didn't have anything in the cabinets or fridge to cook. I had tossed away anything perishable before I left with YiFan since it would have gone bad two weeks later anyways. I had just gotten back so I haven't had time to go shop for new food yet. But at the same time, I also didn't feel well enough to go to the store.

[You are more familiar with him.] Ye Xiu had messaged back after I got out of the shower.

I let out a sigh. I wondered who Ye Xiu was talking about when I logged onto Glory. If it is Liu XiaoBie, just send Little Lu his way to deal with it. I'm sure the two swordmaster would gladly keep each other busy again.

[XiaoBaiBai. Perfect timing. Come to this coordinate fast.] Ye Xiu messaged me not even a second later when I logged on.

[What's going on?] I asked YiFan for more explanation since Ye Xiu was either busy or being purposely very vague about the whole situation.

[Captain was seen with Herb Garden in the last couple days.] YiFan messaged me back shortly after.

Captain?

[You mean Wang JieXi? He isn't your captain anymore little bro.]

[Oh...Yeah. Senior Ye is wondering if you were close yet?]

[I don't know. I think I might be lost.]

[Sis...your lack of direction is really something else.]

[Number 1 and you know it!] I send a laughing emoji along with the message.

x

YiFan came to get me after I told him my current location. It seemed like I was pretty close, I was only a few maps too far north. With YiFan as my guide, I arrived at the scene soon.

When I arrived, it was the normal scene of the Four Guild Alliance locked in battle Tyrannical Ambition over the boss. Both Blue Brook and Samsara were in disarray after being trampled out. However on the sidelines, a very eye catching Witch character stood in front of Herb Garden.

The Witch wasn't eye catching because he was wearing gaudy gears or any physical traits. He just had a certain aura around him that made him stood out. It was very hard to explain, especially this was a game so how could a game character give off any aura. But just go with it.

Herb Garden must have been fed up with being bullied by Ye Xiu and Tyrannical Ambition day and night, and went to ask Wang JieXi for help. If Wang JieXi was here to fighting over wild bosses, then it would be truly troublesome for everyone.

"XiaoBaiBai. Can you go check to see if that's Wang JieXi and see what he is up to? He showed up out of nowhere and has been watching like that all morning now." Ye Xiu came to complain to me when he had a moment to breath during the fight over the wild boss.

"You couldn't do this yourself? Are you scared? Aren't you going to go to bed soon anyways? It's getting late for you guys. " I noted it was already past 7 in the morning. Already a bit later than when everyone from Happy got ready for bed.

"After this boss. It has something we need. Do you think I would be scared of him? I'm just not that close to that guy. Are you okay though? You sound a bit different." Ye Xiu noticed I sounded a bit nasally than usual.

"Just a cold. I won't die from it." I assured Ye Xiu.

"Feel better XiaoBaiBai. We are counting on your contributions. But you must be a complete idiot to have caught a cold this time of the year." Ye Xiu said before returning to battle.

I sighed deeply. I didn't have the energy to argue with someone like Ye Xiu right now. Like a bad rechargeable battery, I felt my energy drained to the red zone even though I just woke up. At this moment, I just wanted to go back to bed. I knew Ye Xiu would never let me go easily if I didn't complete this task. Without much choice, I made my way to Herb Garden as fast as I could.

x

"Greetings to the Goddess. What brings you to Herb Garden?" A witch by the name of Arisaema greeted me when I got closed.

"Just came to chat with Captain Wang over there. Could I?" I asked nicely as possible at the moment. I wasn't in the best mood but I also didn't want to piss off Herb Garden. Currently I was a bit far to get any aid from the guild alliance, so Herb Garden could end me if they wanted to do so easily.

Arisaema must have relayed a message to Wang JieXi's character through a private chat. He was silent for a while before Arisaema invited me over to where Wang JieXi's temporary character was.

"It's been a while. How have you been? How is your break?" I greeted pleasantly like Wang JieXi was a good friend I haven't seen a while. I have to butter him up to get him to loose up his lips.

"Everything has been fine. Why has Ye Qiu send you?" Wang JieXi saw straight through my tactics without even spare a glance my way. Jeez, I was a really bad spy. Glad I didn't do this professionally.

"Haha. You knew?" I laughed before going into a coughing fit.

"Are you okay? You sound pretty sick." Wang JieXi glance over before returning his view back to something in the battlefield below.

"Just caught a cold. Haha, you must think I am an idiot too for somehow catching a cold in this weather." I laughed it off.

"I didn't say that."

"Captain Wang, I want nothing more to go offline and rest up right now. So please help me, to help you."

"You mean to help Ye Qiu. I fail to see how this conversation will benefit me in anyway."

"If you just tell me what you are here for, I can stop bothering you sooner." I tried to come up logical reasons to get information out of Wang JieXi but it was a bit hard to think while sick.

"Tell Ye Qiu I'm not here for the wild bosses if that's what he is worried about. Is he scared that I would?" Wang JieXi taunted.

"Who knows. No? Maybe? I don't know. He probably just think it'd troublesome if you did. So why are you here then?"

"Something came up in game that required my attention, that's all."

"Oh, did Liu XiaoBie cry to you when he lost to the kid from Blue Rain last week?" I followed his character's line of sight and saw a familiar energic youngster in the crowd and ventured a guess. I couldn't tell what was going on in the Magician's head right now but I knew I was right since he didn't say anything. "That kid is pretty amazing.

"Why do you think he is amazing?" Wang JieXi actually seemed a bit interested in hearing about my opinion on the matter? The world must be ending soon.

"First, he have crazy fast hand speed that's comparable to Liu XiaoBie. You should have seen them fight last week. They were matching each other move for move. Second, the kid have energy and stamina. He fought Liu XiaoBie for at least 30 minutes without showing any signs of slowing down. Third, he can really think out of the box during situations. He might not come up with the best or correct solutions, but his solutions can definitely surprise you." I gave my analysis after thinking back to all the encounters I had with Lu HanWen in the last few weeks. "He is only 14. Can you imagine what kind of crazy growth we will see from him in the future?"

"Hm. If you would excuse me, I am going to take a closer look." Wang JieXi considered my words before flying away.

"Wait! Before you go, do you know a good nearby pharmacy?" I yelled and went into a coughing fit. Wang JieXi, however, had already jumped on his broom and flew away when I opened my mouth. I wasn't sure he had heard me.

I completed my mission from Ye Xiu. I told Ye Xiu what everything I found out for Wang JieXi before logging out of the game to take care of things and myself offline. I wasn't sure if everything Wang JieXi fed me was the truth or lies. Ye Xiu will have to use the information with a grain of salt.

x

Buzz, buzz. My phone buzzed from a new message just as I was putting on shoes to head out to the store.

[YaoCao(药草) Pharmacy(1). It's within walking distance from your apartment.] A brief message from Wang JieXi read. He sent over the address too.

[Thanks!] I replied before heading out for errands. For the first time in a really long time, I was glad that Wang JieXi and I were on good terms again.

* * *

(1) Literally means herbal pharmacy.

A/N: thank you so much for those who have left reviews in the last few chapters! I have been reading them, but I have been busy with required classes for work and bad allergies among other things to have responded to them. Still under the weather with allergies right now. Please forgive any huge grammar errors I missed.

To Naliyu: HWQ is jealous, although he would never admit that out loud. I feel like he would be the type of guy who buries himself in work and denies he feels anything for anyone, and he would say something like "I'm too busy to be in love."

To guest: What deja vu moment did you have? Did I wrote something similar before? I can't recall if I did ahaha. I went to look for the news about the cat lost in the airport after seeing the comment and thought "what a coincidence!" Especially the part about the cat heading to China.


	39. Old Grudge

Being outside was draining. I could feel my strength sucked away every second I was outside of my apartment. My battle plan was get something fast to eat, hit the grocery store, go to the pharmacy, and head home to sleep. However, I felt like I could pass out on the street any moment right now. I had to revise my plan of action. I trimmed it down to go to the pharmacy and go home. I guess I won't risk the general population to my germs. Everyone on the street was avoiding me like the plague anyways.

I was super grateful to Wang JieXi for sending me to a pharmacy so close by. Although, I would never admit that to him. The pharmacy was a small inconspicuous place right door to the 7/11 I often frequented. I had never noticed the place before because I never had a need to go in before.

Stepping in the pharmacy, I felt a bit out of place. It was like traveling back in time a little. In the front of the store, there was various over the counter medications on wooden shelves. In the back of the store, Chinese medicine in small draws decorated the whole back wall. This was not like any pharmacy I was used to in the States.

I was used to the huge shelves of prescription only medication behind the pharmacy counter by the pharmacist. I was used to the pharmacists and technicians running like chickens with their heads cut off filling massive amounts of prescriptions. But this place had a calming atmosphere and was only ran by two people. One in the front of the store, and a pharmacist at the back by the medicine draws.

I was also overwhelmed by the selections of medications and products available over the counter. This wasn't like the western pharmacies were you can only find bandages and wound ointment. The over the counter selection included things like mild painkillers, natural remedies, and even some antibiotics that you was prescription only in the States.

x

"Do you need help, Miss?" The young cashier in front asked when he saw me a bit lost at the entrance. For once in my lifetime I was glad someone asked me this question.

"Face masks(1) and cold medication. A really strong one." I said while trying to not cough at the same time.

Seeing how sick I was, the cashier quickly handed me a face mask he had available behind the register. I quickly accepted it and put it on while trying to minimize any direct contact with anyone and anything around me.

"You should go ask the pharmacy." He pointed me to the back of the store where an older guy in a short white coat stood behind a glass case full of medications.

"Thanks." I muttered a quick thanks before walking deeper into the store.

x

"What can I help with today?" The kind looking middle age man greeted with a friendly smile.

Front a distance, this guy looked a bit familiar. But as I walked closer, I decided my brain was probably playing tricks on me; I definitely had not met this man before. Maybe he looked a bit like Lin because he had an Asian dad look to him. I couldn't figure where I was getting my gut feeling from. Maybe I lived in the states for too long and a lot of middle aged Chinese males were starting to look alike.

"Recommendation for a very strong cold medication." My already super congested nasally voice sounded extra muffled with the mask on.

"Here is what I would recommend." The pharmacist stepped out from his counter and walked me over to their selection of cold remedies. He suggested this and that. Not too familiar with a lot of his suggestion, I ended up just buying things I was familiar with from my parents and what Kazumi got me last time.

"Make sure you take everything after a meal or you will have upset stomach." The pharmacist warned me when he was ringing me up.

"Thanks." I nodded a thanks after paying. I grabbed my bag of drugs, face masks, and hand sanitizer, and left the pharmacy. My stomach growled at the mention of a meal. It was been close to 24 hours since I had anything to eat, my stomach was telling me it was time to eat even though my brain still told me I wasn't well enough to stomach yet. The struggle was real.

"But the nice pharmacist told me I have to eat before taking the meds." I try to convince my brain that we should eat.

 _Don't wanna._ My brain replied back.

You spoiled little piece of…

In the end, I stopped by the 7/11 and bought some pre-prepped meals, frozen dinners, and orange juice before heading home. Even if I didn't want to eat now, I would want to eat eventually. This will save me a trip coming out again.

x

I had to drag myself back my apartment and force myself to finish putting the food away in the freezer and fridge. I worked at the pace of a snail, and I still felt like I had just ran a marathon at the end of the little work. I hope I wasn't going to develop pneumonia.

Someone knocked on my door around 10AM. I wasn't expecting any guest. So it's probably the delivery person. Did I order anything from Taobao recently? I tried to recall. I did occasional ordered clothing, shoes, cute hair ties, socks, and tablet pen nibs from Taobao. Or was this a figure I had preordered months prior? After a while I kind of lost track of all my purchase and they just started showing up randomly. 10 USD for a pair of cute shoes? Hell yea! Online shopping was really dangerous, especially when the exchange rate was so good.

"Be right there." I yelled with a cracked voice. I was slowly, but surely, losing my voice. I quickly put on a fresh face mask and sanitized my hands before getting the door.

"Where do you need me to sign? Oh. Hi." I blinked at the person in front of me. Well this wasn't definitely someone I had expected. "Are you at the right address?" I asked dumbly as I stared at the two different size of eyes looking down at me. Wang JieXi was most definitely not my delivery person.

"You sounded pretty sick so I came to check up on you." Wang JieXi remarked as he took a good look at my current state.

"I will be fine. It's only a little cold." As if someone was trying to prove me, I had a coughing fit in front of Wang JieXi that hurted my already raw throat. I might even have tasted a little metallic taste in my mouth.

"Hm. Do you have family in City B currently?"

"YiFan was my only family here." In my heart I couldn't help to think bitterly 'whose fault it is' when Wang JieXi brought up the topic.

"You should eat something warm before taking the meds." It was only then I noticed that Wang JieXi came with a laptop bag on his back and a plastic bag with different sized containers in his hand.

"How did you know I bought meds?" I asked a bit curious and invited him in. It wasn't polite to turn someone at your doorsteps who also brought you food. "I'm sick, but did you want to come in? I'm warning you, enter at your own risk."

"In addition to you sounding really sick, you also asked me for local pharmacy and logged off almost immediately after." Wang JieXi gave me his reasoning and walked into my germ infested apartment.

"Oh right. If I didn't know you were already a pro player, I would definitely think you are a detective or something."

"Heh." Wang JieXi let out a small amused smile and added. "That or I just saw you downstairs with a bag from the pharmacy. Where do you usually eat?"

"You are such a stalker." I tsked at the guy. "At the coffee table."

x

Wang JieXi quickly made himself at home. He set up his laptop and the food on my coffee table and went to the kitchen and brought back eating utensils for two. I was surprised that he seemed to know my place like his own despite only been here once five month before. This guy's memory was pretty amazing.

"Congee?" I asked as I opened up one of the two bigger containers.

"You probably can't stomach anything too complex. But you can try eating some of the sides if you feel up to you." Wang JieXi sat down next to me after he logged into Glory with a random Witch account probably lend to him by his team or Herb Garden. Then, he popped the lid off his own congee container and uncovered the smaller containers too. There were a salted duck egg cut in half, chopped green onion, and some pickled vegetables for the sides.

"You are watching him again? You really are becoming a stalker." I saw Flowing Cloud in the computer screen. It seemed like Wang JieXi was developing an unhealthy obsession with this underaged kid.

"Stop thinking whatever you are thinking." Wang JieXi said as if he read my mind. "What do you think of this Flowing Cloud?"

"From the pictures from Blue Rain's conference, he seem like an adorable kid. He is a bit young for you though, but I could ship it!" I decided to be a smart mouth.

...

"Not what I meant." Wang JieXi sighed at my childish attitude. He rubbed his temple like it was a pain to deal with me. To be honest, I probably was. Not sure why he still tries sometimes.

"I know. I just wanted to get a reaction out of you Mr. Stone Face. It doesn't hurt to smile once in a while or do you not know how to? Anyways, I think he is very skilled, which make him really troublesome. But I think like most young players, they don't understand the complexity of Glory. Glory isn't that simple after all. His teamwork could use some work too in my opinion." I decided to say something useful this time around. I have to repay this guy's food and company somehow right?

"That's what I think too." To my surprise, not only had I said something useful but Wang JieXi also agreed with?

"By the way, aren't you on vacation right now? Why are you still here?" Watching Lu HanWen got boring after a while, so I tried to start up a conversation.

"I am on vacation." Wang JieXi didn't understand my question and knitted his eyebrow together.

"Doesn't seem like it. I meant like why didn't you go home?"

"My family lives in City B."

"Did you do anything fun while on break then?"

"I spend my birthday with them."

"Your birthday was recent? Happy birthday!"

"Thanks. It's not a big deal." He sounded a bit disinterested in talking about his own birthday.

That's no fun. Birthday are suppose to be fun and enjoyable! Although I shouldn't criticize him too much since I also don't usually do much for my own birthdays, but there would always be cake. This year, it already came and went without anyone noticing. But that just meant I got to eat a whole cake without sharing. Who ever said 'sharing is caring' was wrong.

"You should be more thankful to able to have birthdays. There are a lot of people out there who wished they made it our age." I saw Wang JieXi gave me a questioning look from my peripheral vision. "I had a friend who passed away at young age." I explained with a sad smile down into my empty bowl.

"I will keep that in mind for next year."

"Let's do something together next year." I bounced back to my as normal self, well as much as I could while being super sick.

"If you are done eating, go take the medications and rest up." Wang JieXi got up to pour me a glass of water and brought over the bag full of medications.

"Hm. That might be a problem. I have trouble reading the directions on the box." My reading level was maybe that of a first grader. There was too many characters I didn't recognize on the box.

"I don't know how you lasted this long in the city alone."

"I had YiFan." I silently blamed Wang JieXi and guilt tripped him.

Wang JieXi sighed in defeat and then took his time explaining to me how to take each of the medications.

x

A side effect of one of the medication must be drowsiness or something. Shortly after being pumped full of food and drugs, I feel extremely sleepy while watching Flowing Cloud with Wang JieXi. My world began to tilt until I was leaning against the body besides me.

"You have a fever. Go to bed." Wang JieXi tried to help me sit straight but found I would just fall over again.

"Too tired to move." I yawned.

"Then sleep here." Wang JieXi found a couch cushion for me and covered me up with the throw blanket I had on the couch for movie nights.

"I don't want to. I will be alone again when I wake up. YiFan isn't in City B anymore. It's your fault." I sulked while attempting to fight off sleep and tears swelling up into my eyes. I blamed the drugs for somehow making me emotional too.

"I will stay, if you want me to." A hand rubbed my back to comfort me.

"Who want you here?" I humphed and rolled around until I was facing the back of the couch.

Not much longer after, I was unable to keep my eyes open anymore and was off to la-la land. I blame the medications for muddling my mind and making me show a vulnerable side to my enemy. I will prove to you that you made a mistake of letting YiFan go and he deserved better than Tiny Herb. One day, I will make you regret your decision, Wang JieXi.

* * *

(1) The surgical type of face mask. Not like the face mask for winter time to keep warm or beauty facial masks. A very common thing to wear in Asian country during cold/flu seasons to protect oneself and other people from getting sick.

* * *

Extras Extras from my Random Idea Vault II:

Another idea in the very beginning of writing TWRW involving Naomi's pets. But there were a lot of problems with this idea as well, thus never used. But here is a scene that part of the original ideas. Warning: Unedited.

x

With my crazy schedule, it was hard to for me to go home midday to take them out for a potty break. To prevent them from peeing and pooping inside of the company apartment, I gave a spare key to YiFan and YingJie and asked them to take turns to come over to walk the dogs after their team activities since they get off a bit earlier than I do. Eventually the two friends found it was more fun to walk the dogs together and came over daily together.

On this particular rainy day, I came home and found both the dogs and boys were still not back. Maybe they were just a bit delayed by the rain, I should just wait a little. Not 10 minutes later, someone knocked on my door. Right on time, I went to get the door.

x

The sight was not what I expected. A crying drenched YingJie appeared when I opened my door.

"What's wrong YingJie?" I asked worriedly. YiFan and my dogs were nowhere in sight. I had bad feeling about this situation.

"Sister Wang...Help…" YingJie sobbed.

"What happened?" I tried to comfort the teen as best as I could.

"YiFan. H-he slipped and fell into a ditch with the dogs. I-I-I think he twisted his ankle so he can't climb back up." YingJie stuttered as he explained the situation.

I felt like my heart had stopped. The walls were closing in. Breath! I had to remind myself. I had to go rescue my brother and my babies!

"Take me to them."

Not even thinking about umbrellas and rain gears, YingJie and I took off running to the park where the two often went to walk the dogs.

x

"YiFan. YiFan! Are you okay?" I yelled down the dirt ditch.

The park was replacing some underground pipes so there was a deep ditch dug out. YiFan probably slipped on the wet grass and fell in by accident. I had a feeling my dogs probably played a part in this like chasing a bird or something.

"Sis. My ankle." YiFan looked pitifully up at me along with my muddy dogs. He hugged one of his legs to his chest. That's probably the leg he hurt. I frowned.

"Can you stand?"

"A little."

"Arf! Arf! (Mom! Help!)" My dogs whined and barked. They tried to climb up the slippery mud hill but their little legs would tire out fast and they would slide back down on their bellies. More barking and whining ensued.

"Hang in there." I said as I slid down the steep slope.

"Arf! Arf! (Yay! Mom's here!)" My two yappers run around my in circles.

"What are you doing?" YiFan yelled in surprise.

"YingJie, get ready to pull YiFan out of here." I yelled up the ditch.

"Okay." YingJie's head popped over the edge and nodded in determination.

"Come on big boy." I helped YiFan to his feet. He put most of his body weight on me. For a tall skinny guy, he weighed more than I thought you would.

"What do you plan to do." YiFan yelped in surprise when I bend down behind him and tried to left him up by the legs.

"Just reach out and grab YingJie's hand." I strained.

"Almost!" YingJie yelled encouragely.

YiFan and YingJie's fingers hooked on each other momentarily. YingJie tried to pull YiFan up but failed. Their hold on each other slipping away. I could hang out any longer to YiFan's weight and had put him down. All three of us tried to catch our breath.

x

"All of you need to get out of this rain if you don't want to catch a cold." A voice surprised all of us. Wang JieXi's head popped over the edge and joined YingJie's. "Let's try again."

I left YiFan up again. This time both Wang JieXi and YingJie got a hold of each of his hand. YiFan was finally halted up with no problems. Then I handed my dirty pups to YingJie and Wang JieXi before they helped to lift me out of there too.

"How did you know we were here?" I asked Wang JieXi when everyone was safe and sound out of the dirt ditch.

"I got worried when YingJie and YiFan hadn't come back yet. I went to your place to check and saw you guys running here." Wang JieXi replied.

"I'm super thankful that you are here. Let's all head to my place to get out of this rain and clean up eh?"

x

When we arrived safely at my apartment, I rushed the YingJie into the bathroom first to get warmed up with a shower. I then proceeded to dug out all the towels, blankets, and spare oversized clothing I had in the apartment. I gave YiFan and Wang JieXi my biggest towels to dry off and then put them in front of a personal heater for the time being.

I then put some water on the stove to be boiled for hot chocolate mix or tea. While I wait for the water to boil, I took the dogs into to kitchen sink to get them washed up and warmed up. I was thankful that I had small dogs that would both fit into the kitchen sink.

"You should take care of yourself too." A towel was draped over my head.

"Thanks. I have a strong immune system. It would be bad if the dogs got sick though. No insurance for them you know?" I said to Wang JieXi. I was thankful for his actions though. I used the towel to rub my wet hair roughly before draping it over my shoulder.

"Wouldn't be good if you got sick either though." Wang JieXi took the towel off my shoulders. He used it to dry off my hair more thoroughly as I washed and dried my dogs.

"I'm done with the shower, YiFan. What's the situation?" YingJie said when he came out of the shower and saw the scene in the kitchen.

"I hope it's nothing.." YiFan said worriedly as he tossed some of his sister's bigger shirt and PJ pants towards his friend.

x

After everyone was warmed up with a hot shower and tea or hot chocolate, we decided to have dinner together after the whole ordeal. We had just called a place for delivery. The three's clothing were in the dryer drying. Right now, we all sat around the TV watching a movie and sipping our hot beverage while waiting for dinner. YiFan and YingJie was huddled under one blanket. Wang JieXi and I each had our own blankets with the dogs between the two of us.

I smiled at the sight around the room. The three looked a bit ridiculous wearing my clothing. YiFan was in a Pikachu shirt and grey holiday theme PJ pants. YingJie was in a rilakkuma shirt, and grey and pink polka dotted PJ pants. Wang JieXi was in a Pusheen shirt and sweatpants that had paw prints on one of the legs.

I took out my phone to capture this moment but a body slide closer to me on the couch and took my phone away.

"Don't you dare." Wang JieXi said while being awfully close. So close that I could smell my body wash on him.

"Says the person that smell like strawberry body wash." I smirked rather arrogantly up to his face.

x

A/N: I think in the beginning I did want to maybe try to develop a little Naomi x WJX through the help of her pets tying the red string of fate/love between them. But, you can probably see why this wouldn't really work in the overall story. I'm sure Wang JieXi would kill Naomi for endangering his team's sheltered little genius and think he was too OOC anyways. That's why this idea along with all other pet related involvement were eventually scrapped from the plot. Thus, Naomi might be forever single.

* * *

A/N: Trying to make Naomi and Wang JieXi more friendly with each other, hope you guys don't hate that. Happy 5/13 Mother's Day. Don't forget to appreciate her today. If you are a pet mom, don't forget to appreciate yourself xP

Who else is sad that the TKA OVA was only 3 eps long? Now have to wait to see when season 2 will be announced. The wait is going to kill.

* * *

Hello to all the new readers from various parts of the world who just discovered my story. I think I had a little heart attack when I saw the story stats recently for the month. Thank you everyone for clicking and reading. Hope you are all enjoying the adventures so far!

To MariaHikari: Will keep these two boys in mind if I do decide on a pairing. From the interactions of all the boys with Naomi so far, I feel like they are the most likely candidates.

To jtrek.013: Thank you for reading and leaving a comment to show support. Glad you are enjoying the story thus far, hope you will like the future chapters.

See you all in the next update.

MissC


	40. No Cooking Required

Another fluff chapter. We will resume main plot next chapter.

* * *

 _You are so dull._

 _Ugly._

 _So Plain._

 _Fat._

 _She is so much more interesting than you._

 _The ring is mine now._

 _"_ _Why didn't you keep our promise, Sis? I couldn't find you. You pinky promised." A young YiFan asked me with disappointed eyes. He then turned his back on me and walked away._

All my insecurities came to hunt me in my nightmares. Dreams were the one place I was the most vulnerable. I used to look forward to sleeping and dreaming when I was younger. But the older I got, the less pleasant dreams I received. Most of my dreams nowadays were about work related stuff and things I could have done better in life.

"Naomi. Wake up." A strong male voice broke through all the other voices in my head.

"I'm sorry YiFan. Please don't leave. Come back. Come back." I chased after the YiFan's shadow, reaching out trying to pull him back.

"Naomi. You are dreaming. Wake up."

A gentle touch on my shoulder helped me differentiate between dream and reality. The room was painted a orange hue from the setting sun when I opened my eyes. I must have slept the whole afternoon away. I rubbed my eyes and found tears.

x

After I became more aware, I found myself curled up in a fetal position under my super comfortable throw blanket while gripping onto the edge of someone's shirt for dear life. Was I in a dream within a dream?

"Are you finally awake?" The person besides me asked.

"Mm…?" I grunted sluggishly as I snuggled against my pillow. My lazy glaze followed the direction of the voice, but froze when I found the source. I almost had a heart attack staring at those two different sized eyes.

"I must be still dreaming. Have to wake up now." I squeezed my eyes shut and mumbled over and over again. I had to be still dreaming. I stabbed Wang JieXi in his side with an index figure fairly sure he was just part of my imagination. He flinched at the jab but otherwise he was solid, and I hurt my finger.

"Don't you usually pinch yourself to check instead of poking the other person?" Wang JieXi raised an eyebrow at my action and flicked me in the forehead.

I put both of my hands to my forehead and stared at Wang JieXi. The flick wasn't enough to hurt, but it was enough to make me aware that this was not a dream. I turned tomato red when I became painfully aware that Wang JieXi was real and still in my apartment. Somehow I had moved from my spot and used one of the Glory God as a lap pillow. This was just wonderful...note the sarcasm.

"You are still here? I thought I told you to go." I scrambled to get up from the embarrassing position. I winced lightly from a pounding in my head from moving too fast and probably dehydration.

"I didn't trust you to not fall off the couch while sleeping. With you tossing, turning, and moving all of the place." Wang JieXi shot me a look. He had the perfect evidence in hand. I had somehow moved from one end of the couch to this end while sleeping.

"If you were that worried, you could have moved me to the bedroom."

"Someone is too heavy."

"Humph! I am not. You are just have weak arms from playing video games all day."

"I said someone. I never said it was you." Wang JieXi smiled pleasantly. He then got up and walked to the fridge.

I was left speechless with my mouth hang open. I had fallen for his word trap and I had no comeback even though we both know he meant me. Suddenly in the back of my mind, I remember overhearing everyone in the pro circle saying those who are good at tactics also had black hearts.

When he was away from a little bit, I noticed he was still logged into Glory on his laptop. Right now, it seemed like he was just standing around a random town and wasn't following Lu HanWen anymore.

"Here." Wang JieXi handed me a glass of chilled orange juice.

"Thanks." I accepted the glass gratefully and drained it greedily. It seemed I was really dehydrated. "Sorry for the trouble." I couldn't help to say after I got over my initial embarrassment.

"Are you feeling better?"

"A bit." I said as I held my head in one hand. "What have you been up to this whole time?"

"This and that." Typical of him not giving a straight answer to a possible enemy. "You okay?" He really doesn't miss the smallest details does he.

"Yea. Small headache. Found what you were looking for in game?"

"For now." He seemed to study me before speaking again. "Let's have dinner together."

"Huh?" I blinked owlishly at him. He had caught me off guard. "How did this come up?"

"You should eat before taking the night time dose of the medication."

And that's how the god in City B stayed for the dinner disaster.

x

Wang JieXi dug around my kitchen cabinets looking for something and then sighed deeply when he couldn't find what he was looking for.

"Where is your rice cooker?" He asked after searching fruitless for some time.

"I don't own one." I watched him move around in my open kitchen from the couch. I was currently kneeling on the cushion seat and leaned on the back of the couch to get into a comfortable position while watching the entertainment.

"Are you really Chinese?" Wang JieXi remarked.

"Do all Chinese people eat rice? You are stereotype everyone in China. No all Asians!"

"..." Wang JieXi shot me an unimpressed look, which I returned with a grin. Hey don't blame me for this. This was payback and Wang JieXi literally set himself up for this one. Who am I to resist?

"Why are you looking for a rice cooker anyways? I just bought pre-prepped food in the fridge and frozen dinners. Just heat some of those up. Or we can do take out. I know a pretty good place."

"You are impossible" Wang JieXi gave up in the kitchen and went to look what I had in the fridge. "Really?" He shot me another unimpressed look when he saw my supply of fried chicken rice bowls, fried pork cutlet rice bowls, and fried chicken frozen dinners from 7/11 for the next few days.

"What? They are delicious and no cooking required." I pouted innocently as I could.

"It's not nutritionally balanced."

x

Before I could make a smart mouth remark about how he sound like a middle aged man, a knock came from the door. Wang JieXi and I exchanged a look.

"Did you already order take out?" He accused.

"No. Did you before I woke up?" I asked him.

"No. Delivery person?" He suggested.

"Maybe, but kind of late. But I might have ordered from Taobao? I don't remember anymore." I admitted.

"You are impossible."

"You already said that. Are you running out of lines?" I laughed as I went to get the door.

x

"Hi XiaoWang. Are you feeling better?" Lin greeted me when I opened the door.

"You are back from City Q? What brings you here?" I resist the urge to shut the door and yell for Wang JieXi to hide, because that wouldn't be suspicious at all.

I made a mental note to check my horoscope today. I seemed pretty popular today. Everyone just seem to be popping up at my door today. Although if YiFan made a surprise visit, I wouldn't mind as much. The thought of YiFan not being in City B made me sad again. I miss my little brother already. I have to message him later tonight.

"Yea. We got back earlier in the day. AnChen was worried that you are not eating well so she send me with dinner for you." Lin must have saw the grimace on my face when I had undoubtedly remember the taste of her cooking from earlier this week. "Don't worry, I cooked."

"You are taking a while. Who is it?" Wang JieXi just had step behind me and to let himself be known at this moment. Yup…totally not suspicious at all.

"Oh. Oh? OH!" There was no way Lin wouldn't recognize the god of his home town.

"Lin… Calm down." I saw an excited gleam in his eyes and I knew his full fanboy mode was coming next.

"I didn't know you two were close. You should have at least told me XiaoWang! I could keep a secret." Lin almost looked like dog drooling over a big piece of meat in front of his face.

"We are not really that close." I said helplessly. And yea right...I'm sure you could keep a secret with lips loose as yours. "This is your fault, do something." I hissed at Wang JieXi.

"What do you want me to do?" Wang JieXi shrugged.

"Haha. I totally understand you guys not wanting to be found out. I will leave you two to it. Good thing I packed enough food for two tonight. Have a good night!" Lin stuffed the tupperwares into my hand.

"Wait Lin! you misunderstood something!" I called after Lin when he turned around abruptly and skipped down the hall like just found out some juicy gossip that no one knew yet. He only waved at me. "Ugh. Lin if you promise not to tell another soul about this, I will get his signature for you!"

"From the whole team!" Lin counter offered.

"Deal!" I yelled back.

"It seemed like Mr. Lin have misunderstood the situation." Wang JieXi made an observation a bit late.

"No kidding. Get me your whole team's signature tomorrow so I can stuff his mouth shut with it." I shut my apartment door with a huff. I had the urge to literally stuff the signature down his throat when I see him next if he spread gossips around the office, or even worse online or to the paparazzi.

"Look on the bright side, at least we got dinner. It looks healthier than anything you have in the fridge." Wang JieXi took the tupperwares from and went to heat them up in the kitchen. "Looks like Mr. Lin must know you don't own a rice cooker, he even included rice here for you."

"You and your rice. Is that even important right now?" I muttered under my breath before heading to the kitchen to see what was there to eat.

* * *

To Forbiddentofly: thank you for the review.

To Crystal: You are right about Naomi completely understand YiFan is better off not at Tiny Herb, but she is just bitter that Tiny Herb mistreated her brother and made her brother move to City H. In her mind Tiny Herb = WJX. And you get a cookie :) SMQ is mentioned and will be continued to be referenced once in a while because he heavily influenced a lot of people's past so they wouldn't forget him so easily. At least that's what I think.

To YeTianshi: Thank you for leaving multiple reviews on so many chapters. The event that Naomi won was a Glory equipment design/art contest that I made up for the story, so the event isn't canon. Slight more details of event in the AU chapter 34. There will be more battles in the future, but they might not be as detailed as you had hoped. Battle scenes are difficult. But glad you are enjoying the story thus far, hope you will keep reading and enjoying.

To Guest: I ship them all too from the bottom of my heart haha.


	41. Why is he Here?

A/N: Can't believe I'm posting ch 40! ^_^V I actually never expected myself to keep it up this long haha...

* * *

The following day, Wang JieXi showed up on my doorstep despite me telling him not to come back the previous night. He said he wanted to make sure I was eating sick people appropriate food again after seeing the contents of my fridge. Due to his efforts over the weekend, I had recovered enough to go to work Monday.

There was a lot work waiting to be done by our little over sea department before the the start of the new season. In the upcoming season, many big teams would be switching to the new projection technology seen at the last All Star weekend. With the White Robed Witch guesting at many matches, Glory Co decided to pair me up with Kazumi and her team to make a grand entrance intro when my character steps on stage.

x

"How you want her enter stage?" Aiko asked in her limited chinese when we sat down for brainstorms as a group. After half an year of living and working in China, everyone's spoken language had improved a little.

"I guess maybe appearing in a raging snowstorm?" I said unsurely since I didn't have a concept in my head.

"Boring. Snow just because she is an ice elementalist. Think out of box." Jin snorted at my unoriginal idea.

"What do you think will be better then?"

"Her dancing with her weapon in falling petals." Jin said haughtily.

"Like your idea is more original than mine." I rolled my eyes a bit at Jin's idea.

"Aiko. Which idea is better?" Jin demanded his shy girlfriend. After Valentine's day, the two started dating officially.

"Hm...hm…" Poor Aiko hid behind her notebook, avoiding eye contact from Jin and I. The girl was the type who didn't want to offend anyone.

"Enough. I already have an idea for her entrance." Kazumi suddenly spoke up after she wrote some things down. "I will check with the Gaming Design Department to see if we can have some custom color schemes and added flares to White Robed Witch's skills."

"What are you thinking?" Aiko, Jin, and I all wanted to know what the master had cooked up during the time we argued.

"Wait and see." Mazuki smirked rather mysteriously before leaving the rest of us guessing.

For the rest of the week, I started to sculpt Project Desert Dust and worked on other numerous side projects. Some of the side projects involved equipment designs and designing new official Glory merchandises. With so many things to do, the week passed quickly and it was time for me to travel to Japan for WonFes.

x

Sunday, July 28 was WonFest (Summer). It was also the date for Project Cloud Piercer's pre-order, Project Vaccaria's limited second pre-order, and Project Desert Dust's big illustrating reveal.

WonFest was like the All-Star Weekend for the Japanese figure companies and figure enthusiastics. It was a day that all professional sculptors, aspiring sculptors, figure lovers, and collectors looked forward to. It was a glorious day when many independent sculptors sold garage kits, and all the company - no matter how big or how small - showed off their products. Many companies announced new projects, showed off projects current in progress, and displayed finished figures ready for pre-order. It was really my kind of heaven.

Because I was a sculptor who worked for a Japanese company, I was naturally invited to the event to further promote the collaboration projects between the Japanese and Chinese companies. Kazumi volunteered to comes with me to act as my translator so she could use this opportunity for a free trip back to Japan.

x

The night before the event, she took me out to her favorite places to eat and drink in the area. After Kazumi downed a few drinks, she revealed that she was a bit homesick; she missed the environment and food here. I do have admit that Japanese cuisine was delicious. Katsudon, ramen, sushi, takoyaki, fresh mochi, and everything matcha flavored were all delicious. I had to say I was super impressed at how much the older woman could drink. She drank like a champ and still woke up without a hangover the next day for the event.

As part of the vendor, I had one hour early access to the event to help set up. Like how each Glory team kept their training methods secret. Figure companies kept a good portion of their new and in progress projects under wraps until this one special day. Naturally, I wanted to get an early sneak peak at all things on sale or for preorder at the event after I set up my two figure and art design for the third. Unfortunately, I was dragged back to my own table to get ready for when the doors open and the incoming flood of people.

After manning the the company table with Kazumi for about 2 hours to talk to the different people coming by, I was finally freed to explore the convention. I pulled Kazumi this way and that to see other people's work and meet some of the well-known sculptors in the industry. Hey don't judge me now; this to me was like All-Star Weekend to Lin. This was also my first time coming to a grand event like this and to pay my respect to my gods in the industry.

I was definitely still considered an unknown newbie in the industry. But to my glee, a few people I idolize told me good job and started to follow me on Weibo. I know they were probably just being polite and I shouldn't let it go to my head, but I was still ecstatic! After enjoying myself at the convention and dropping a bit of money on a few garage kits, preorders, and a fancy dinner with my Japanese colleagues, Kazumi and I returned to city B, China.

x

When I returned home, I checked up on all the Glory News I had missed over the weekend. Needless to say, Project Cloud Piercer pre-order and second release for Project Vaccaria pre-order were in the headlines because both went very well. Both were sold out within hours. Many Tyranny fan were ecstatic about seeing Desert Dust getting a figure in the line. The White Robed Witch's guest match schedule was posted on the official Pro Alliance website. All the seats from those matches were quickly sold out afterwards.

Mixed in with the good news were the bad news. I found out two more people I knew were leaving city B. Deng FuSheng, Tiny Herb's Vice Captain, had decided to retire. Someone by the name of Xu Bin was going to take over the character and position. Li YiHui from the Tiny Herb also transferred to a different team.

Characters in the Alliance usually stay the same, but the turnover for the players behind them can change quite a bit. I knew Deng FuSheng wasn't the first person to have used the famed Knight of Tiny Herb, Angelica, and he wasn't the last. It wasn't all that rare that someone leave and someone else come in the Alliance, but the thought of people I had gotten know being replaced still made me sad. When I'm sad means to eat cake. After I quickly unpacked the essentials I decided to make a trip to Dreamy Cakes with my new and shiny VVIP platinum membership card.

It was a great feeling to be able to skip the line of people outside of the store and walk straight to the counter to be helped. I even wore giant ostentatious sunglasses to play the part of the VVIP. I had to try really hard to contain my laughter when everyone stretched their neck to get a glimpse of me and whispered among themself guessing my identity when I flashed my VVIP platinum membership card at the door and counter. None of them would have guessed I was really a just a pretentious nobody.

x

The week after my Japan trip, I continued to work part time on Project Desert Dust, designing new official Glory merchandise, and working with Kazumi's team on the graphics. The new merchandises included, not limited to, game logo and team logo sweatshirts, sweatpants, fall jackets, crossbody bookbags. I was inspired by the start of school and my own lazy wardrobe choices.

As for the new graphics for the White Robed Witch, Kazumi pulled a few strings, and possibly used blackmail, to get the White Robed Witch skill graphic colors changed to cooler color palette. Instead of pink flower petals, the White Robed Witch's Falling Flower Palm had been customized to a glowing silver and pale lavender color instead. Instead of a golden dragon animation for Rising Dragon Soars the Sky, the White Robed Witch now had an icy blue dragon. As for the White Robed Witch's stage entrance animation, Kazumi and her team was still toying with a few ideas and didn't have anything to show yet.

x

After working hard for the week, I finally was about to relax in game with YiFan and rest of Happy. To my surprise, Deception, the character I was told to kill a few weeks back, had joined Happy?

"What's this all about? I thought you asked me to kill him before? And you just put out a massive kill request in the pro player QQ chat a few days ago." I demanded when Lord Grim stepped between Deception and I. I had to cancel my Dragon Breaks the Ranks mid skill, which made me very unhappy. I had wasted a high level skill and will have to wait out the long cooldown.

"Eh. That was before, this is now." Ye Xiu explained lamely. I might have imagined it, but I swore Deception looked like he could attack Ye Xiu from behind right now.

"So he is part of Happy now?"

"No, not yet."

"Then what is he doing there?"

"He is currently staying here and thinking about if he wanted to join us or not."

"Well, tell him to hurry up and decide because I don't want him to freeload."

"Yes, yes Miss Investor."

Ye Xiu and I chatted with Deception nearby so he could hear every word that was said about him. If he was affected by anything that was said, he didn't show anything besides the initial killing intent towards Ye Xiu. Either he was really good at keeping insults in or he just didn't care. I hoped this guy wasn't shameless as someone else I knew.

"Hmph. Let's hurry up go kill something before I try my luck with him again." After the conversation, I was more worked up than the person I was trying to scorn.

"To be honest. With your current skill, I don't think you would win against him, XiaoBaiBai."

I attempted a Dragon Tooth in Lord Grim's direction that he easily blocked and laughed.

x

A few days after meeting the freeloader, Ye Xiu send me a document called "Happy's Practice Routines" with a message to try to get through all trainings daily. I was surprised that Ye Xiu and Wei Chen were serious about considering me as an unofficial member of Happy. I really thought they were just being polite when they said it. This made me broke out in a grin when I read through the roughly put together document.

I opened the document up after work, and saw it was places to practice jumping, rolling, and other basic movements in dungeons or random maps. When I saw the document, I thought this was some kind joke. However when I attempted to jump up the cliff at Pear Wood Mountains, I realized Ye Xiu and Wei Chen had put a bit of effort finding these special practice places because these trainings weren't easy at all.

Jumping up the cliff required not only skills, but also precision and judgement. Without good judgement, it was hard to determine which rocks on the cliff was a steppable ledge and which were fakes. Without precision, it was impossible to land on the small ledge and your character would fall. Without skill, you can't make up more than one ledge because most of the ledges would only be able to hold the character for a few second before it would crumble. So if you stay one millisecond too long, all your previous effort would be for nothing. This guide made me want to cry after failing each of the practice area so many times.

No matter how difficult, I took my time working through Happy's Practice Routines because I believed in Ye Xiu's madness. If I couldn't finish everything before going to bed, I continue where I left off the next day. I knew this was one of the ways he was helping to prepare me for the White Robed Witch's guest stages next season.

There were nights where I bump into YiFan or someone else from Happy on the same maps. Man, I was so jealous. Some of them, like Ye Xiu, Wei Chen, my little bro and even that Deception leecher, made the tasks look easy. Instead of being too discouraged, I told Ye Xiu I will be practicing these basic instead of Wild Boss hunting from now until I could get through the daily practices consistently.

After a week of hard work, Ye Xiu send me another document that he and Wei Chen had come up for class-specific practices. My guide was pretty much what they gave to Tang Rou with some elementalist stuff added on. I wasn't complaining though, I could use all the help I could use. I accepted the guide graciously without question and started to work through those on top of the other practices. Soon my days became cycles of eat, work, eat, Glory, sleep.

* * *

To MariaHikari: I'm glad you found last chapter amusing!

To Guest: Lin actually didn't spill the beans on things this time! Naomi's love for fried chicken is one of her major flaws, but at times it does lighten up the mood.


	42. Opening Match

Dazzling lights. Cheering fans. One of the most technologically advanced stages. Who knew how many fans dreamed about having a moment like this in their lifetime. I might sound ungrateful, but I would rather not be here. My flight response was kicking in full throttle right now.

No matter how much I prepared for my guest appearance on the opening weekend of the new season, I still couldn't prepare enough for it I guess. Was it too late to run away right now? I wondered as I watched the bright stage from backstage. I had missed what the host said on stage after the team match between Samsara and Heavenly Sword, but the audience exploded into applause.

My guest match was set after the match between the teams were finished, and before the team interviews. Giving me a tired pro-player to fight was the Glory Alliance's way of giving me a handicap.

"Naomi, you are up." YueHua nudged me in the side. "You okay?"

"You want to go instead?" I asked with a stiff smile.

I felt jittery and cold. My heart just wouldn't calm down. Was I getting a heart attack right now? With so many people out there watching, I felt my stage fright overtake me. Even if it was against a tired pro, I was sure no one really expected anything out of me since this was just extra entertainment to get more attention for the game, and to sell more tickets to fill the seats. But I didn't want just be someone's punching bag on stage either!

"If it was to fight against my ZeZe, I would be up there in a heartbeat! But since this is just against Vice Captain Jiang BoTao, no thanks." YueHua made sure every single strand of my hair was in place with a can of hairspray in hand one last time before pushing me out on stage.

"Good luck." Sam, Lin, Kazumi, Aiko, and Jin cheered from besides YueHua. The whole oversea team came to support me. YiFan and many other also send best wishes through chats. Even Zhou ZeKai send a [good luck] to me in the Pro Player group chat. Having so much support helped me feel a little better.

"Welcome to City S again, Naomi!" The host started with the usual small talks before the battle.

After the introductions were done, Jiang BoTao and I headed into our respective area to swipe our character into the field.

Kazumi and the rest of the team wasn't here to purely support me. They were actually here to look at the finished entrance animation for the White Robed Witch to make sure there weren't any bugs or imperfections in the graphics. All I have to say was Kazumi and her team really outdone themselves to make the White Robed Witch's entrance look so grand.

x

Goose feather like snow started to fall and start to build on the projected stage. A dancing figure started to appear more and more clear by the second. Within a few second, it was clear that it was the White Robed Witch dancing in the snow gracefully while waving her staff like she had conjured this gentle snowfall.

After a few short second of graceful dancing, the White Robed Witch looked like she noticed an invisible enemy. She stabs the lance end of her weapon into to the floor and the previous all pure white snow on the ground turned into an violent whirlwind of silver and light lavender flower petals. Now, the White Robed Witch danced around the field more fiercely. She stabbed and slashed at imaginary opponents, cutting up the flower petals as she moved. For her final move, she dropped low and sweep her weapon at ankle level to send all the flower petals up in a wild storm one more time and disappearing within the storm. The scene ended with the petal falling calmly again. The audience were in awe and their appulse was deafening.

After the short 20-30 second animation, my White Robed Witch and Vice Captain's Empty waves stood on two ends of a simple open arena map ready to fight. Because this was only purely extra entertainment for the Glory fans and not an important match between the two Glory teams, it was decided that the fight should be straightforward and short. Again, hinting they didn't expect me to last too long. I mean if they wanted a more fair battle, then send out someone who wasn't the Vice Captain!

After the countdown, Empty Waves took no time to dash towards me to attack. I quickly casted a Mobile Cast and disturbed his charge with Ice Wall before meeting him halfway by teleporting forward to greet him.

"Naomi really have guts! She is meeting Jiang BoTao's Empty Waves head on instead of keeping her distance like a traditional Elementalist." The host tried to put in a few words for the audience as usual.

x

Two minutes. Two minutes was all it took for to me lose. From beginning to the end, I was on the defensive and barely could get any hit on Empty Waves. Sure, everyone at the end cheered and clapped, but this fight was a giant hit to my confident and self esteem.

After the match, I realized my expectations were too high. Maybe all the players calling me Goddess during summer break went to my head. In theory, I had the advantage in this battle since Jiang BoTao had already fought in the individual and team matches tonight and would be tired. I had hoped that with all the training and practice I could defeat him. It was only when I lost miserably that I realized the giant gap between the Pro Players and I. Bitter. No words could describe how bitter I felt. I wanted to go somewhere and cry.

"Good match." Vice Captain Jiang BoTao said when we got back on stage.

"Thanks. You too." I responded politely and shook hands with him under the cameras.

"Good job out there." Lin and the rest of the team greeted me when I walked off stage.

"Yea, thanks." I said listlessly. "I'm tired. If they don't need me here can I head back to the hotel?"

"Sure. Maybe go get yourself something to eat on the way back too." Lin suggested when he saw me moopy expression.

"Yea. Sounds good." I said a bit mindlessly and left.

x

In the end, I didn't head straight back to the hotel. I wondering around town for a little, followed a delicious smell, and ended up sitting at a small Chinese grilled skewered stall on the side of a random road with an open view of the sky. It was too bad light pollution was so bad in the cities that you can't see the stars at all.

I had already put in my order and was waiting for them to be done while sitting in a step stool. Grilled meat and seafood was the best. The delicious smells were so entrancing that I didn't feel as bad about the events from tonight.

[Are you okay?] YiFan messaged me.

[Okay was I can be. Happy's match went well last night?] I asked even though I had been in the room to watch to begin with on a side account I bought on Taobao for cheap. Even though Happy wasn't a popular team, a lot of people went to watch with the hope that Happy would lose.

Ha. For Happy to lose. If they knew who was leading Happy, I think a lot of people would pee their pants.

Anyways, Happy's match was a joke. Half of their noob opponent's team didn't even show up. Some of the players overslept for their match even though their name was Worldwide Insomnia. That was a laugh. The rest of their team skill weren't very high either.

[No problems on our side.]

[I wish you were still in City B. You could help me practice.]

[We can still meet in game. You are doing pretty well already. Have more faith in yourself, Sis.] YiFan encouraged.

For a long time I sat and looked at the screen not sure how to respond. YiFan had grown a little in just a month. I smiled at his message. Before, I would always be the one sending him words of encouragement. Now, our roles were reversed. _You made a good choice._ I thought happily.

"Lady! Your skewers are done!" The shop owner yelled, breaking out of my thought.

"Okay!" I quickly got up to get my food and YiFan's message was soon forgotten.

x

While eating contently on the side of the street, a fancy luxurious black short limo pulled up next to the side of the road shop.

"Goddess. Is that you? What are you doing on the side of the street?" The tinted passenger window rolled down, revealing an unfamiliar face. From the pompous car and chauffeur service, I could tell he was a young master of some family.

I shared blankly at the person in the car. If it wasn't because there was no other female current nearby, I didn't know they were addressing me. Was I being targeted by City S gang for human trafficking or was I getting hit on by some guy from a rich family like in TV dramas? Well either way, this seemed like a bad situation. I should just ignore them.

"Goddess. Are you lost? Do you need a ride back to the hotel?" The man ask again. He didn't seem to know when to give up.

"I'm not some lost sheep. Go hit on some other girl." I said rudely while making an expression of a delinquent to the stranger.

"Goddess. Do you not recognize me?" This was when the stranger seem to understand some kind of problem.

"Should I?" I asked while munching on the last of my meat skewers rather unlady like.

"I'm Lou GuanNing, LouLan Slash, guildmaster from Heavenly Justice in Glory, and captain of Heavenly Sword. I was just at the stadium for the match against Samsara. Doesn't Goddess remember seeing me there?"

Well that was an impressive introduction if everything he said was true. I thought back to earlier tonight. Since I was so nervous for my own match, I didn't pay attention to anything else. Then I quickly left soon after my match. "No. Can you prove you say you are?"

"I know Goddess was with us for Wild Bosses hunting beginning of July. During the period, you drew pictures for us because we had to flip our sleeping schedule so you were bored by yourself. Then, you went to Tyrannical Ambition the second week because you were there for business and got roped into helping them. The guild alliance was first in an uproar when we saw Goddess switched sides, but God Ye explained things to us or Goddess would definitely have been hunt down by some of the guild members."

"Oh, So you are Xiao Lou. The after match interviews are already over? What was the last part you said? I thought I heard something important about me being hunt down in game."

x

Once Lou GuanNing told me some stuff only Ye Xiu and the Four Alliance would know, I was convinced that this was indeed the RMB glory warrior from Glory. My attitude flipped 180 degrees once I knew who this guy was.

"Yes. We were heading back to our hotel now. Do you know how to get back to your hotel Goddess?" Lou GuanNing smiled pleasantly and ignored the latter part of my question.

"Stop with the Goddess, Xiao Lou. You saw how bad I was. Just call me Naomi. We are friends aren't we? Or do you not consider us friends? By the way, who is we?" I got up from my little squad stool and took a peek through the open limo window. Four other people, three guys and one girl, in the limo waved friendly my way.

"Let me introduce you to the rest of my team. Gu XiYe, Night Tide. Zou YunHai, Ocean Ahead. Wen KeBei, Homeward Bound. Zhong YeLi, Thousand Falling Leaves." Lou GuanNing introduced his friend and team in the car with their real life name and Glory account.

Each of the person nodded my way when named. While Lou GuanNing and gang were probably around the same age as me, I was used to Ye Xiu calling them Xiao Lou, Xiao Bei, etc. I felt a bit bad for treating them like young kids….I blamed Ye Xiu. That guy was a bad influence!

"Nice to meet you all. I don't know how to get back, but I got GPS. You guys want some food? The skewers are pretty tasty here. I recommend the squid legs." I offered casually.

"No, that's alright. But if you are done we can give you a ride back. You have wandered a bit far away from your hotel."

"You guys aren't going to the same hotel?"

"No. I reserved our own rooms at another place." Hidden meaning, we are too good for the normal hotels. Sigh, rich young people.

"If you are offering me a ride back to my hotel, then I won't refuse. I really have no idea where I am haha."

"It seem like your sense of direction is just as bad as it is in game." Lou GaunNing laughed lightly and directed the driver to come out, open the car door for me, and everything.

I didn't take offense at all. After getting to know each other in game for a short while, my sense of direction in the guild alliance was just as famous as my character was.

"I would be missing if it wasn't for the phone GPS." I agreed as I squeezed into the limo with the members of Heavenly Sword.

I always wondered what it would be like to sit in a limo. Who knew, my first limo experience was going to be like this. Life was filled with surprised. The atmosphere in the car was light all the way back to the hotel despite the loss we all suffered tonight from Samsara. The six of us talked and bonded over about our first time battling on the official stage and our common enemy.

"If there is a chance, Goddess should come and visit our facility! We are in the same city after all."

"Haha. If there is a chance, I will definitely drop by."


	43. Bitter Feelings

The White Robed Witch's guest match with Samsara Vice Captain's Empty Waves attracted more views on Samsara and Heavenly Sword match than any other team matches that day. Glory Co and Glory Pro Alliance were beyond happy about the viewership; more viewership means more money. This was the exact results they had hoped to see. However, my own happiness and pride were used to exchange for this result.

There was no time for me to be depressed by the result of the guest match though. I knew that I wasn't really the main event that everyone was watching and no one really cared if I won or not... but I cared. I cared a lot. My pride was crushed by how easily I seemed to be beaten the other party. I realized there was a huge gap in skills that can't be closed overnight, but this feeling was frustrating. It was bitter. For the lack of better words, I can only say it sucked a lot.

But instead of moping around and doing nothing, I started practicing again the moment I got home from the airport. When my brain was tired, stomach hungry, eyes dry, and my fingers hurting from practice, I finally took a break. I noticed it was already 6 in the evening. I had sat in front of the computer for over 7 hours straight. No wonder my whole body was stiff! When I stretched out my stiff bones, there were popping sounds from many of my joints. Ah, that felt good.

x

[Sis you should take a break.] 4 hours ago.

[Sis are you okay?] 3 hours and 23 minutes ago.

[Are you there sis?] 2 hours ago.

[Sis?] 1 hour ago.

I felt terrible when I noticed all the unread messages from YiFan. It was only when I finally stepped away from the computer to put a frozen dinner into the microwave that I noticed all his messages. I wasn't ignoring YiFan on purpose or anything. I was just really concentrated on practicing that I blocked out everything in my surrounding.

[Hey sorry. I was busy.] I messaged him back.

[What's wrong Sis?] YiFan's respond came immediately after I send my message. It looked like he have been waiting for me to answer all this time.

[Why do you think something is wrong?] Right after I send the message, my phone buzzed due to an incoming call from YiFan.

"Hello?" I asked the other party. Even though the caller ID said it was YiFan, I couldn't be sure since YiFan had never call my number. He never called me when he was still at Tiny Herb or when he moved to City H. I was usually the one to call him first.

x

"You are sulking Sis. It's not health." YiFan stated in a matter of fact voice.

"I'm not. I'm just preparing for next time."

"I'm not sure if you are aware, but this is how you sulk and punish yourself. When you get bad grades from school, you lock yourself away do study for hours unend. You are now doing it with Glory because you lost." YiFan said in a upset tone.

"Is that XiaoBaiBai? Let me talk to her." Ye Xiu's voice cut through the background and I could hear the phone exchange hands. "Hello? Is this XiaoBaiBai?"

"Yea. I...I'm sorry. I failed." I felt a bit nervous to talk to Ye Xiu. He had given me so many tips, guides, and even his secret technique (although I haven't mastered it yet), I felt so shameful that I can't face him. I felt the need to apologize for being not good enough and a giant failure. I felt the tears coming.

"I saw your match and I think you did as expected for your first time. You are not even a pro player but you did as well as you could against one." Ye Xiu unexpected praised, if that's what we can call that.

"I was so nervous but I tried so hard. I wanted to win. I'm so bitter." I confessed my vanity to Ye Xiu.

"It's natural to be nervous. Even new pro players get nervous the first few battles. Keep on practicing and getting use to the feeling of a professional match, you will beat some of them one day." Ye Xiu reassured me.

"Even you were nervous when you started?"

"Of course." I didn't know if I should believe his response or note. Ye Xiu was so thick skinned and shameless, it was hard to tell when he is lying because he lies with a lot of confidence too.

"And even the other gods too? Like Old Han, Wang JieXi, Yu WenZhou, and even Huang ShaoTian?."

"Probably? You can ask them. Everyone have to start somewhere. Some just hide it better than others."

"Okay." I felt slightly better after talking to Ye Xiu.

"Oh, a wild boss just spawned. Remember no one can become a pro over night. Bye." Ye Xiu then quickly handed the phone back to YiFan.

"Make sure you take care of yourself while practicing, Sis. I got to go help." YiFan quickly said before hanging up.

I stared at the phone screen that went dark after the call ended with conflicting feelings. On one hand, I felt happy that my brother and friend cared about me and had comforted me. On the other hand, I was less important than a wild boss. With nothing much to do, I decided to put some fuel in my body before start practicing with a calmer heart.

The next two weeks passed peacefully and uneventfully. I worked during the day and practiced at night. Slowly, my persistence produced some results. I was able to get through most of the basic practice routines every night before bedtime and sometimes even get in some class specific training and Dragon Raises Its Head training in too.

Speaking of Dragon Raises Its Head, I was still quite a bit of ways being able to use it. My attempt at Ye Xiu's signature attack was more like Dragon Nods Its Head compared to the real thing. The skill was more complicated than it looked. I mean, if the attack could be easily reproduced, then every Battle Mage in the history of Glory would be using it right?

x

The night before my second invitation match was also Happy's match against Everlasting. Everlasting wasn't a team without a background; they were once in the pro alliance. I felt a bit worried for Happy.

A little before 8PM that Friday, I rushed into the assigned room for the match along with countless other people on a spare battle mage account I got online. It was easy to see most people here wanted to see Happy lose and slap that in Happy's face afterwards. There probably wasn't a Happy support here besides myself.

The first individual round was rocky for Happy, but they made a comeback after that. After the individual and group round, Happy was head 4.5 points to 1.

"You can do it, Happy!"

I was surprised someone else in the room typed into the public chat to openly supporting Happy.

"Go, Happy!" I joined in. Since this was online, I didn't have to worry about people near me beating me up or chase me out of the room for slapping their faces.

"Happy for the win!" The other person typed.

Between the other person and I, we quickly filled up the public chat and slapped everyone who came to watch Happy fail in the face.

I watched Happy's match from beginning to end. I won't deny that I stayed up too late. After the match ended, I just had to send over a congratulations to the whole team, since this was a big step for Happy to prove their strength. Was it a smart decision to stay up so late talking to Happy? Not at all. I had an early plane to catch to City N for the match between Wind Howl and Hundred Blossom the next morning. But, I regret nothing. It was worth it to see Happy slap everyone's face last night and had a good laugh about it.

My favorite part of the whole match was YiFan's individual match against the Sharpshooter, Shoot Here. YiFan outsmarted the other side with his impressive underwater battle techniques. Yea, yea call me bias, but I don't care. I'm shameless biased when it comes to my brother. I will have to ask YiFan or Ye Xiu to teach me those techniques later just in case I have to fight anyone underwater in the future.

x

For once, I was glad that all pro matches on match day started at 8PM and not 8AM. When I arrived in the hotel in City N, the first thing I did was lay down for a nap. I slept until 3 in the afternoon and then got up for a snack and practiced my daily tasks in Glory as an warm up. By the then I ran through all the basic drills in the Happy's training guide, it was time to meet up with YueHua and Lin for dinner. Then, it was to the stadium afterwards.

I waited for the match to end in the backstage area again. I was still quite nervous this time around. This wasn't like fighting someone in the arena at all. There was so much more pressure and so many people watching. I don't think I will ever get used to this competitive atmosphere.

City N was Wind Howl's home turf. This also meant I was going to face someone from Wind Howl for this invitation match. I don't know who I was going to face until the match, but I had done a little homework on all the players and characters in the main roster in hopes I would last a little longer in battle this time.

"Naomi and her White Robed Witch will face Fang Rui and his Doubtful Demon. Players please go to the player booth!" The host announced. Fang Rui and I nodded at each other on stage before heading to opposite player areas. I was at least glad that they didn't send in Tang Hao, the current number one brawler in the scene, to beat me up.

Fang Rui, I recalled him being at the last All-Star weekend. On top of this guy's talent, Doubtful Demon was no pushover account either. From what I researched about the thief, Wind Howl had put a lot of time and effort into the character to make it a well known All-Star Account. The number of the silver equipment would be no less than my White Robed Witch.

I quickly over what I learned about Fang Rui and his character in my head as I sat down in front of the computer and swiped my account card. Fang Rui was known to have a wretched playstyle to match his character. With all the possible traps the thief class can use, this will be a tricky fight.

At first, we played cat and mouse. I had the range advantage, but he was smart to stay far out of my range. But that doesn't mean he didn't do anything while hiding from me. While we circled each other on the map, who knows how many traps Fang Rui had set by the time we came face to face with each other.

No matter how careful I was, a chain reaction of trap set off when I stepped into the first one. I got caught in traps one after another. Anytime I tried to get in range to attack, I would be pushed back by traps. In the end, I couldn't get too many attacks in before the White Robed Witch succumbed to all the Damage Over Time status she suffered from the traps.

x

DEFEATED!

The words flashed on my screen when the White Robed Witch's blood fell to 0. I sighed and got up to shake hands with the other party like usual.

"Good match." I said the usual polite words.

"Yea, yea. Same." Fang Rui responded halfheartedly. It was obvious that he was forced to fight against me and was bored by the lack of challenge from the fight.

"You okay?" Lin and YueHua asked when I stepped off the stage.

"Yea. I'm starting to get use to this a little." I smiled bitterly.

x

Fans were a scary group of people. They can turn into haters as fast and easily as breathing. The guest matches between the White Robed Witch and the teams that they looked forward to quickly became criticized and a joke.

"So the White Robed Witch is only that."

"The account is wasted on a talent-less person like that. I probably could do better than her if I was in her shoes!"

"Losing so badly. Disgrace to the Pro Alliance!"

The negative comments poured in all over the net quickly after my second match. It seemed like many people have forgotten that I wasn't a pro player to start with. Playing Glory wasn't my job. They were all expecting a bit too much out of me. Little by little, I stopped caring and started to hate Glory.

* * *

A/N: Two updates this week :)

Currently having writer's block on chapter 54. Been literally staring at a blank word screen for a week+ now. Please send positive energy, thanks!


	44. Blind Date

In the month of October, I stopped logging onto Glory with the White Robed Witch and played dead on QQ. I had many message from YiFan, Ye Xiu, and many other pro-players that went unread. I even had a log of missed calls and voicemails from YiFan that were never returned. What I was doing? I was moping.

My excuse was I was busy at work. It wasn't completely a lie. It was half truth and half lie type of excuse. With a major Glory update coming up in less than two month, I have been pulled into beta testing and trailer making along with my other work. If it wasn't due to my posts on weibo about updates on Project Desert Dusk and other upcoming teasers, the world probably thought I was missing or dead.

I still did my daily practices after work. But I used a Battle Mage and Elementalist side accounts that no one knew of instead of my main to avoid people. I kept up with my daily practices on both accounts. If I finished early, I even went to PK in the Arena to gain experiences fighting different classes. I had a win rate above 92%, which was considered pretty good among normal players. Even so, I started to wonder what's the point of all of this.

I wasn't hired to be a pro player. My lack of motivation started to show during the invitational matches. I started to leave the stadium immediately after my segment without chatting with the teams. My outcomes of the battles became worse and worse. People around me became worried as I cared less and less about the game and matches. Even though I tried not to let my losses affect me, I became increasingly moody.

One of my fight this month was against Misty Rain's captain Chu YunXiu and her Windy Rain. This was a fight that was highly anticipated by a lot of Glory fans because was between a true Elementalist and a hybrid Elementalist. Against a professional, I didn't fare too well. In the same month, I also fought and lost to Conquering Clouds' player without too much suspense. Many fans became disappointed in the extra programing due to my poor performances. They expected more in general, and I just couldn't deliver.

Views for the guest matches started to fluctuate downwards. Glory Co. didn't care too much because the views were still higher than normal with the the White Robed Witch's appearance and I was still turning in quality work. Some people continued to watch my battles because they hoped for some kind of miracle to happen while others watched purely as a joke.

x

Eventually Lin couldn't take my moody spirit anymore and got his wife An Chen involved. He had hoped maybe my favorite cake from my favorite bakery in City B, would cheer me up. An Chen, however, saw this as the perfect opportunity for something else.

Lin invited me over to his place for dinner in hopes of cheering me up. I watched a kid movie with the twins while Lin cooked and An Chen baked in the kitchen. After bringing me lunch almost every single day, Lin knew my preferences for food and cooked feast of everything I liked.

"How do you feel about a blind date tomorrow?" An Chen asked me out of the blue when we all sat down for dinner.

"Mom!" DaBao whined at the idea.

"Is he a prince?" MeiMei fantasized after watching a movie about a princess and a prince.

"Ah? I'm not really looking at the moment." I tried to push away the topic under an imaginary rug.

"I had to nag my employee for the past few month, and she had to nag her son for this opportunity. It wasn't easy to set something up since he is a pretty busy guy too. You guys might have a thing or two in common. You should at least go meet him for tea tomorrow. Give me some face. Do it for me. Think about how will it look for me if you refuse so easily without even meeting the guy." An Chen sighed dramatically as she talked about all the hard work she put into setting this meeting up.

"Lin." I pouted at the older guy, hoping he would say something to help me.

"An Chen said she will give you a free whole matcha cake from the bakery if you go tomorrow. It will help take your mind off things." Lin, that traitor, looked away from me and bribed me instead. I started to feel like this was a setup from the beginning.

"I heard it's your favorite. You know how much that cake usually cost." An Chen added pleasantly.

"That's evil." I pouted. How much do I want that free matcha cake? Was it worth it to meet a completely stranger of the oppose sex? The internal struggle was real.

"I have a private room booked at a tea house for you guys and I will send over sweets from the bakery as snacks for free." An Chen further tempted.

"Fine. Where is this tea house?" I lost to the temptation of promises of free sweets and cake from my favorite local bakery.

"Good, good. Lin will send you the address and room number. I think you guys will find a lot of things in common to talk about. When you guys get married in the future, remember to invite me okay?"

"I'm the one who is going to marry her!" DaBao declaration was not taken seriously and was ignored by everyone around the table.

"An Chen, you are fasting forward things a bit too much." Lin shook his head at his wife.

"I always wanted to play matchmaker. Teehee~" An Chen grinned.

"Your inner intentions are showing." I mumbled.

x

Sunday at 10AM, I arrived at at the designated tea house located in the older parts of City B. I felt like a time traveler walking through these old back streets in modern day tee shirt, shorts, and sandals. Many of the old buildings were still build with bricks, mud, and wood. The narrow streets were made with stone instead of cement. People here seemed more laid back too, or maybe it's just because it was still early on weekend.

The hostess of the tea house took me to a small private room on the second floor to wait. The small had a round table that was big enough just for two. The other party had not arrived. I checked the time, I was only 20 minutes early….

Okay maybe 20 minutes was too much, but I always feared of being late. I was glad that at least An Chen had picked a room with a view of the street below so I could people watched to pass time. I could see why An Chen carefully picked this location. Most of the people that come here seemed older and isn't as familiar with Glory. This meant I was probably safe roam around this part of town.

While waiting, I shot Lin a quick message to see if he knew anything about the guy.

[Sorry. I don't know anything about the guy. Good luck.] Lin's message read. But you never know how much to trust Lin's words. He did part of this scheme after all.

I quickly thought about excuses and words to politely reject the other party after this meeting. Should maybe just pretend that my Chinese was terrible so there was no way to communicate? Or maybe tell him that I'm not interested in guys? Yea, that seemed like a good plan, let's go with that. I started to come up with a long winded speech on how to reject the guy.

x

"She has already arrived. I will bring in snacks for you guys in a bit." The hostess came up the stairs again with another set of footsteps around the same time I read the text message.

I didn't turn around to face the guy when I heard the door open and the guy sat down opposite of me. I decided to show disinterest from the beginning. If I try to be polite about things, the other party might get false hopes up and follow me around like a lovesick puppy. Even when the hostess came back with plates of baked goods after a few moments, I still didn't turn around.

"It seems like you are alive and well, so why are you playing dead?" After the hostess left again, the guy decided to start speaking when he noticed that I wasn't going to start a conversation with him.

"What?" Of all the things he could say, that was the weirdest pick up line that I have never heard. I turned to face the other party, a bit offended. Who during their first meeting say something so weird and rude?

"Finally decided to turn around?"

"Wang JieXi...? Do you usually wear glasses?" I was surprised to see someone that looked a lot of Wang JieXi sitting across the table. I narrowed my eyes at the man. From all my meeting with Tiny Herb's captain, I don't think I had ever seen the guy in glasses.

"Do I look that different in glasses?" He said a bit amused.

I nodded. I finally understood why people always wore glasses as a disguise in movies and stuff!

"Good. These are fake; I wore them as a disguise."

"They are not prescription?" I asked.

"No." He took his glasses off for me to see. I immediately noticed the lense were made from glass and had no curve in the lenses. I was a bit jealous, how can he have good vision despite staring at a computer screen all day long.

"So, why are you here?" I handed back the glasses back to Wang JieXi.

"Same reason as you." He said simply as he gracefully poured two cups of tea. He set a cup in front of me and gestured me to have a taste. I had to bit back a laugh. His action really reminds me of a grandpa, especially in this old tea house setting.

x

Well, there goes plan A. I don't know if I should be more or less anxious now. I was relief that I didn't have to deal with a complete stranger, but at the same time he was more troublesome to deal with than a stranger. He was the last person I thought I'd meet here.

"I'd think you'd be popular enough to have a few girlfriend already. Why did you even agree to this?" I said a bit sourly and played with the small clay cup, finding the tea leaves at the bottom pretty interesting at the moment.

"Do you think I have time for such things?" Wang JieXi raised one of his eyebrow. "I only came today to check up on you."

"Huh? You knew I was going to be here? Why would you come to do just that? Seemed like a waste of time for the all mighty Captain of Tiny Herb. You could just send a message." I rolled my eyes at this guy's unusual reasoning and tactics.

"I got your picture before the meeting so I knew it was you. I wouldn't have agreed if it was anyone else. This really is waste of my time, but who decided to playing possum on QQ?"

"Hm." I hummed and shrugged vaguely, opting not to answer when the answer was clear.

"You got a lot of people worried. Win and lose is natural in the pro world. Yes, it doesn't feel good to lose, but you are acting childish over a few loses." Wang JieXi lectured me like a parent dealing with a unreasonable child.

"It's not that." I grabbed a cookie to go with my tea.

"Is it about what anti-fans are posting to your Weibo?"

"It's not that either." I bit into the cookie. I wondered if I could get the recipe from An Chen. On second thought, maybe it was better that I didn't cook because I might burn down the whole building.

"What is it then?" Wang JieXi was glaring at me at this point. He was frustrated that I didn't seem to take our conversation seriously. I was literally wasting his time even now.

"Do you enjoy playing Glory?" I sighed and put down the delicious cookie. I looked sadly at Wang JieXi.

"What are you getting at?"

"Enjoyment might not matter as much to you and other pro players because it's your work. People say I'm living every fan's dream, but this isn't my dream. Everyone forgot that I'm not a esport athlete. I'm an artist and sculptor who works for Glory Co. I'm just a normal player, and I'm alone in this. All of you have a team of people you work with. Every team is my opponent. I used to play Glory to get away from the real work, but now I'm slowly finding myself disliking and even hating Glory. I still keep on practice in private, but on most days, I just want to get away the game. I'm not strong like all of you." I had to break eye contact as the truth spilled out. I feared that I might tear up under Wang JieXi's harsh look.

x

A blanket of awkward silence covered the room. The only noise in the room was the chatter from the people below. I examined my reflection in my tea cup; the slight frown, sad downward eyebrow, the dull eyes. I let out a disgusted scuff. When had I become this pitiful creature? What happened? I thought as my grip on the cup tightened. The tea in the cup was long forgotten and had gotten cold.

"You might be right about a lot of people are not giving you enough credit for what you are doing. But do you need others validation to play Glory? It might seem harsh to put you up with other seasoned pro-players, but don't you think this is also a form of respect from the teams. It shows that we regard you highly and don't underestimate you because you are a normal player. Naomi, do you realize we were all once a normal player too." A large warm hand reached across the table and touched mine. Wang JieXi rescued to poor little cup in my grip. He dumped out the cold tea and refilled the cup.

"You? Once a normal player?" I asked in disbelief. I mean, can you imagine Wang JieXi running around Heavenly Domain for fun? I can't.

"Of Course." Wang JieXi held my gaze showing me his seriousness in the topic.

"Were you always this good?" I asked curiously.

"No. We all have to start at the beginning don't we?"

For the rest of the morning, Wang JieXi and I exchanged stories from our old Glory days over tea and snack. It was mind blowing to learn that Wang JieXi was once a noob who started from zero too. Although, he got the hang of the game rather quickly, unlike someone else in the room.

I listened intently to Wang JieXi's starting days in Glory and early days in the pro circle. Then somehow we got a bit off track and started talking about cakes since his mom worked with An Chen at Dreamy Cakes. The meeting ended up being very enjoyable until the hostess came up and told us our time in the private room was almost up.

"You can message me if you need help." Wang JieXi put his fake glasses back on as we got up to leave the tea house together. He looked good in glasses, I noted.

"I feel bad bothering you. You are always so busy and shoulder so much responsibility. Sometimes I worry that the burden your carry might be crush you." I frowned besides him when I thought about how the position of Captain was pretty much pushed on him so suddenly. "Well if you ever need anything I could help with, you can message me too."

"Are you worried about me?" He smiled.

"Of course not. You are over thinking. Hey wipe that amused smirk off your face. Ugh, I like your emotionless stone face so much better."

"By the way, YiFan seem like he found a good team." If I didn't hear wrong, it seem like Wang JieXi's tone of voice was approving?

"Humph, of course. Do you regret your decision after seeing how good he is now?" I answer the question with another question in a stuck up manner.

"It seemed like it's a bit later than I had expected. I need to head back to Tiny Herb now." Wang JieXi choose to not reply.

"Thanks for coming out today." I thanked Wang JieXi before we headed our separate ways. My personal feelings towards him due to YiFan aside, I couldn't deny Wang JieXi was not a bad guy or captain. I sighed. I guess I shouldn't try to make his life too difficult in the future.

"Feeling better?" His hand found its way on the top of my after I spaced out for only a few seconds, and broke me out of my thoughts.

"Huh? Yup. Thanks." I removed his hand with a light slap at his wrist.

"Good. Then start checking your messages. Next time you decide it is a good idea to play disappearance, I will show up at your door. I know where you live." Wang JieXi flashed the message that I send to him by accident with my address from February on his phone before halting and leaving in a taxi.

Well, f**k. I felt a dangerous chill down my spine. I just got blackmailed by Captain of Tiny Herb, Wang JieXi. With a mind like his, I was worried about what he could do with the information. Maybe I should check with the company if they have another apartment I could move into just in case.

* * *

Bonus Scene:

Ring...Ring...Ring…(Banana phone)

"Hello. Thank you for calling Old Beijing Tea House. How can I help you?" The hostess of the tea house picked up the phone.

"How did it go with the young couple in room 202?" An Chen asked excited over the phone.

"This seems like an invasion of privacy, give the kids some space An Chen." The hostess immediately dropped her professional tone of voice when she knew who was on the other side.

"We have been friends for how many years now? Is this how you treat a good sister? I will provide sweets from the bakery at a discounted price~" An Chen sang over the phone.

"How much discount?"

"10% off"

"20%" The hostess shot back

"15%"

"Okay. They two spend the full time together talking in the room. They were a bit shy at first but they were all smiley smiley and chatty with each other when they came out. They left together. Don't ask me more because I couldn't be outside of their door eavesdropping the whole time." The hostess reported.

"Oh! I hope they name me as their godmother for their kid! I mean I was the one who introduce them. I hope they remember that." An Chen squealed in exciting on the phone.

"Oi. Aren't you fasting forward things too much?" Lin yelled at his wife in the background.


	45. Improvements

November of this year have 5 Saturday, this also meant there was three matches I had to attend this month. The only thing I looked forward to is my bank account increasing this month. At least win or lose, the extra income didn't change.

The first Saturday was my battle with 301 Degrees. Interesting enough, I was paired to fight with a Paladin named Zero Qi played by Sun MingJin. If anyone remembers, Sun MingJin was the disgusting guy who approached me at the punch bowl from the award ceremony a few month back. I haven't forgotten about that. This was a great chance for me to pay him back for his actions, plus interest.

At first, I played like usual, defensively. But the longer I fought, the more I thought about how he attempted to hit on me at the event, and the more irritated I became. My mind blanked. I no longer cared about tactics and the end results. I just wanted to give this guy a good beating. My attacks became progressively aggressive. By the time when my health dropped to half, I was on him like a hungry tigress.

Instead of moving backwards to dodge Zero Qi's attacks, I moved the White Robed Witch forward to decrease our distance with a teleport and a Furious Dragon Strikes the Heart. Zero Qi was surprised at how fast the distance between us became to 0.

Due to his surprise, his actions were slowed. I managed to get in a Dragon Tooth in after my first attack. After following up with a mix of normal lance attacks when he was stunned, I threw him up in the air with Tyrant's Destruction, and send him flying away with Falling Flower Palm. Right before he could use a recover roll when he fell, I casted an Ice Line to freeze him on the spot. Afterwards, I rushed towards him with Dragon Breaks the Ranks and a close ranged Piercing Lightning. I took a big chunk of blood from his character with this beating.

"Naomi's conditions seems very good today. This is the first time we have seen her on the offensive in the last few matches." The host commented during the battle.

With a well time Magic Prison, I prevented Zero Qi from casting a recovery skill on himself and successfully silenced any skill use for 4 seconds. During this 4 seconds I stunned him with another Dragon Tooth and finished the match off with my level 70 Elementalist skill, Heavenly Lightning.

x

GLORY!

I couldn't believe that I had actually won and thought it was a mistake at first. It was a pretty close match since both characters were down to red blood at the end.

"Ha..aha." I let out a relieved laughter. I must be dreaming. I won! This was my first win. This was proof that all the practice and hard work had paid off. "Ahaha." I continued to laugh in the player booth. It was good that the booths were soundproof or someone would have thought that I have lost my marbles.

When I walked back on stage, people all around clapped. My heart pounded in my chest from the rush and applause. I felt exhilarated knowing that the applause was for me and my White Robed Witch. I missed everything that was said between the host and Sun MingJin. I smiled politely and shook hands with Sun MingJin before heading backstage.

"You won! You won!" YueHua and Lin pulled me into a group hug the moment I was away from all the cameras. We jumped up and down while laughing like idiots.

"Naomi..." Zhou ZeKai came up to talk to me while he was waiting for the aftermatch interview to be set up.

"Our Captain says congratulations on your win." Jiang BoTao translated from the side.

"Thanks. I'm just lucky today. This battle could have ended either way." I replied modestly.

"You have improved." Zhou ZeKai surprised me. I blinked once and twice and stared at this strange man. I must have heard him wrong. Did he just say more than one word? A complete sentence to be exact. Was this his way of giving me a congratulation present? Awww! So cute!

"Hey. Stop staring at my ZeZe." YueHua nudged me on the side when I started at Zhou ZeKai with opened mouth for a bit too long.

I also received many congratulations from other individuals on my phone.

[Congrats on the win, Sis.] YiFan was the first to send a message.

[Not bad. Not bad. It's good to be more aggressive. Keep working hard.] Ye Xiu's praise followed.

[Congratz! *firework**firework**firework*] SuSu sent.

For a small celebration, Lin, YueHua, and I went to the local night market and got some late night snack and drinks to bring back and devour back in our hotel room.

"To Naomi's first win against a pro! Cheers!" Lin announced like a proud dad as he raised his beer can in the air.

"Cheers!" YueHua and I clanked our canned fruit juice with Lin's can in midair.

We watched the rest of the aftermatch interview of Samsara and 301 Degrees on television while we ate, drank, and talked over it. After match interview ended, Lin went to his room, and YueHua and I went to wash up and headed to bed. Before falling asleep, I noticed many pro players from Blue Rain, Tiny Herb, and even Tyranny send over kudos in the pro player group chat after their matches and interviews. I slept well and had a good dream about beating up Sun MingJin that night.

x

The next two weeks passed rather uneventfully at work. I was still doing the same old things like working on Project Desert Dust, final phase of beta testing, and some other small projects. Project Desert Dust was coming along smoothly. The painted based model should be done by the end of the month, and the pre-order can be expected by Glory's upcoming anniversary date. From insider information, Glory Co had a lot of big events planned for this year's anniversary. I was told to drop a teaser for one of the biggest update to come in the last 3 years during my invitational match at Blue Rain on the 16th. It was going to be a match to remember.

To mix things up for this invitation match, I would be playing in 2v2 format against Blue Rain's top players. Yu WenZhou, Huang ShaoTian, Lu HanWen, and I were going to be tossed in a randomizer that will pair the players up into teams on the spot. This was going to be different than anything previous match I have fought because this required me to coordinate with someone else and come up with a strategy with them on the spot. It is easier in some sense, but also harder in other ways.

x

Standing on stage with the three Blue Rain's players, we all waited for the pairing results to be announced.

"Our Blue Rain Captain, Yu WenZhou is paired with the young talent, Lu HanWen. This means our lovely Naomi is with the our ace Huang ShaoTian!" Host yelled into the microphone excitedly to fire up the audience. The results was deafening with claps and cheers. "Players, please head to the player booth!"

"I can't believe I'm paired with you." I said to Huang ShaoTian as we walked towards the general direction together. I had seen his playstyle and chattiness even in the official matches.

"Hey! You should be happy to be paired with me. I'm the Sword Saint! Do you know how many people want to have the chance to play on my team? Huh? Do you know how much money I make by playing matches? Huh? Huh? Huh?" Huang ShaoTian rambled like usual.

"Try not to get in my line of attack." I warned before we had to step into our own player booth.

"I should be the one saying that! Don't get in my way Naomi! I will chop you up along with them if you do!"

"You can't hit your own teammate. You know that right?" I asked.

Huang ShaoTiao responded with a raspberry before disappearing in his booth.

Even before the match started, Huang ShaoTian and I started to argue. Yup, our teamwork was already going really well.

x

Ready!

The four character were loaded into each corner of a lush forest terrain. It seemed that to make the battle more interesting, the Alliance choose a bigger and more complex map to account for the increase in the number of players. I started to sweat. For someone who have no sense of direction like me, this was the worst possible map choice. I wouldn't be surprised if I somehow never find any of them in this map.

I walked in a certain direction but then seem to hit an invisible wall. I knew this must mean I hit the edge of the map and should probably head in the opposite direction. As I walked in another direction for a few minutes, Huang ShaoTian started to type messages to me in the public chat.

Huang ShaoTian had been spamming in the public chat the moment the match started, but right now he was directly addressing me.

[Where are you? I found the kid and is currently engaged in battle. Get your butt over here already for support.]

[Ahhhhh! Captain is here too. Where are you Naomi? Are you going to get here soon? What are you doing? Ahhh! It's 2v1. I'm doing all the work. This isn't fair. Get over here already. Where are you? Are you dead already?]

Huang Shao Tian's message popped up one after another as I walked. If he had time to type all of that, then he doesn't seem too busy to me.

[I'm lost.] I typed back simply as I continued to walk cautiously. Every few steps, I would stop and listen carefully to the in game sounds.

[What kind of idiot are you? How can you get lost in a small map like this? Ahhhh! I'm going to die at this rate!] Huang ShaoTian soon typed back.

[Find an opportunity to get away.]

[Do you think it's easy to get away from these two? ]

[It would probably be easy if you stopped typing so much.]

[Just get over here ASAP. I need back up.]

[It might be easier if you come find me instead. I will wait here.]

Huang ShaoTian and I went back and forth in the public chat. However, instead of actually waiting in one spot for him, I continued to move slowly and carefully to make the least amount of sound as possible. Eventually I picked up sounds of spells and blades in a distant. I quicked made the White Robed Witch crouch close to the ground and started to move even slower towards the sound source.

x

When I got closer, I could see the battle in an open area in a distance. I stopped within my cast range while examining the situation. If one was watching in godview, my character would be in the bushes to the right, forward position from Swoksaar. As Huang ShaoTian said, it was 2v1. His Troubling Rain was locked in combat with Flowing Cloud. Swoksaar was providing support and crowd control skills in a distance. Flowing Cloud's health was at 70%, Troubling Rain had the upper hand at 80%, but Swoksaar was at close to full health.

From this distance, It doesn't seem like anyone have noticed me at all.

[Naomi, Naomi, Naomi. I'm dying! Get over here and help.]

[I still can't find where everyone is.] I lied in the public chat.

[You directional idiot! If I die, I will haunt you as a ghost. It will be all your fault if we lose.]

[Sorry. Hang in there.] I still pretended like I was nowhere near the scene. Was this a bit underhanded, maybe, but this could also be considered a type of tactic too. Okay maybe, I hung around Ye Xiu and Wei Chen a little too much.

While stalling for time, I also have decided on my next steps.

* * *

To Guest: There is like fancy chilled strawberry champagne in limo, most likely.

To Naliyu: Yup. An Chen probably already have Naomi's love life all planned/fantasized out lol.

To Yellow Green Fish: Welcome back to reading my fanfic. Glad it's good enough for people to come back to. Lol my typo. Wrinkled fish haha. It's fixed now, thanks for the catch.


	46. Is this a Love Triangle?

An unexpected Heavenly Lightning Earthen Fire engulfed the battlefield. While the Blue Rain players were all caught in the display of lightning and fire show, I teleported within range to use Dragon Breaks the Ranks on Swoksaar. Then, I followed up with Dragon Tooth and Falling Flower Palm to push Swoksaar away from the two entangled Blademasters so Troubling Rain was outside of his cast range.

Swoksaar was the main character controlling the flow of battle. I knew if Huang ShaoTian had any chance of winning, we had to take the warlock out first. I hoped that Huang ShaoTian, the master of taking opportunities, will use this opportunity I created to somehow gain the upper hand.

[Ahahah. Good one, Naomi! Keep captain busy over there while I deal with this little kid busy over here.]

x

Yu WenZhou didn't just let me use Swoksaar as a punching bag; the guy was a pro afterall. He skillful got back on his feet with a well timed roll and started to counter attack with a steady stream of curses. As he kept me busy with his spells, he tried make his way back to the cast range of Huang ShaoTian. I dodged and counter with my own attacks to buy Huang ShaoTian more time. The only thing I was grateful for was he hand speed wasn't crazy fast too. This was the only thing that gave me chance of surviving against a god level character and a master technician.

Swoksaar's attack hit more. However, White Robed Witch had fairly good magic defense. The White Robed Witch's battle mage attacks hit less often, but they deal a good amount of physical damage. Swoksaar's robe was only made from cloth, so his physical defense wouldn't be too high. Our health more or less fell around the same rate.

By pure chance, I noticed a Hexagram started to form on the ground during the exchange. I quickly lunged towards Swoksaar with Dragon Rises from the Sea to avoid being trapped in the black and purple lights, but then quickly cancelled the skill before the my lance reached the warlock. I casted an Ice Wall close to Swoksaar to get out of his line of sight and send out a Piercing Lighting his way as a surprise. Unfortunately, Yu WenZhou saw through all of my little party tricks.

Despite me trying to buy time for Huang ShaoTian, I couldn't Swoksaar keep away for too long. I had followed Swoksaar back to the clearing only after a few exchanges of skills because Yu WenZhou figured out my plan easily. Currently, Swoksaar stood between me and the two swordmaster. Skillfully, he kept me far from Lu HanWen and Huang ShaoTian's battle so I couldn't give Huang ShaoTian any long distance fire power assistance.

Eventually I had to get out of his cast range because I only had 20% health left after suffering his combination of Hexagram Prison and Death's Door. That time I couldn't break out of the forming prison in time and could only eat the damage from the second skill. I was just glad the combo didn't KO me out in one go due to my high magic defense.

[Ahhh! You are so useless Naomi! Captain is back already. Couldn't you have kept him away longer?]

I didn't bother replying to that.

x

I stood in a distance right outside of Yu WenZhou's range and thought hard about my next step. It was only then I realized something painfully obvious that I failed to see all along. After doing special Elementalist training on my very standard Elementalist side account, I finally realized the difference between the cast speed and cast range between the two accounts. It is really true when they say you don't realize what you have until it's gone. Through some experimenting and data gother, I discovered that the White Robed Witch had a longer cast range than the average Elementalist by at least 2.5 units and faster cast time by 1 second. At least, after repeating the same dry data collecting, I got a good grasp on the White Robed Witch's cast range and speed as the result. I am unsure how these numbers will compare to a God-tier character, but these differences might be enough to win.

Just as I noticed Swoksaar started to wave his silver weapon around to start casting a Hexagram Prison on Troubling Rain, I casted a Magic Shackle to silence Swoksaar's magic skills. I could tell Yu WenZhou was definitely surprised by this development. He turned around to counter attack once my debuff wore off but found I was still outside of his range. It appears that he hadn't fully figured out my cast range and speed, so he had been content that I was kept outside of his attack range, thinking my range was similar to his.

Not good. Yu WenZhou thought in that moment. But it was too late to be cautious now, and the tides of the battle had turned within seconds.

I didn't stop my assault there. Using this opportunity, I rushed forward with a combination of teleport, Dragon Breaks the Rank and Rising Dragon Soars the Sky. In a blink of eye, the White Robed Witch pushed Swoksaar into the middle of Troubling Rain and Flowing Cloud's fight. I quickly cancelled the second part of Rising Dragon Soars the Sky's attack and followed up with a stab of Dragon Tooth and a swipe of Tyrant's Destruction.

The Tyrant's Destruction send both Flowing Cloud and Swoksaar into the air. Instead of following up with Falling Flower Palm like I normally would to send them away, Troubling Rain took the opportunity to follow up with Sky Plunging Blade to sent them higher in the air and then making them crash into the ground with Falling Phoenix Slash. He managed to perform both skills seamlessly within seconds, making it look like one skill.

I wasn't there just to stare in awe. These few seconds managed to give me enough time to calculate and cast a Magic Prison at where Flowing Cloud and Swoksaar would land. All of Flowing Cloud and Swoksaar's skills were silent for 4 seconds. Whatever skills Flowing Cloud and Swoksaar were going to use to counter failed. I immediately then covered the field with another Heavenly Lightning Earthen Fire. Under the cover of the explosion of fire and lightning, Huang ShaoTian went in with his level 70 skill Formless Phantom Blade took away the rest of the blood from Swoksaar and Flowing Cloud.

x

GLORY!

x

I let out a sigh once the battle was over. Even though the battle was over, my heart still pounded in my chest from the rush. This battle was on a different intensity than any other battles I had fought since I was teamed up with a pro to fight against two pro. Was this the Glory that the players fought after? I started to gain a little insight into the pro-players mind.

"Hey! Not bad! Not bad! Tricking them in the public chat was good tactic. A bit dirty and unexpected from you, but I like it! I like it a lot! It reminds me someone I used to know actually." Huang ShaoTian's loud voice surprised me when I stepped out of my player booth. I didn't expect him to wait for me to walk back to the stage together. He raised a loosely clenched fist towards me.

"Thanks. It wasn't all a lie though. I was really lost in the map for a while though. I'm really bad with directions in game. I wish they had picked an easier map." I fist bumped him.

"Ahahah. It's all good. All good. Thanks to you, we won in the end." Huang ShaoTian laughed as we walked.

Applause and cheers greeted us on our walk back to the stage. Lu HanWen and Yu WenZhou were already on stage waiting. Both of them were clapping along the crowd too. Huang ShaoTian had slugged an arm over my shoulder as we talked and walked back to the center of the stage. This was only a friendly gesture from the gold haired monkey. But I was sure the press wasn't going to let this scene go unnoticed and there will definitely be some rumors in the eNews and online forums tomorrow.

x

"That was an exciting battle! Although a rough start for Naomi getting lost, but she really turned the battle around…" The host began to summarize the battle while some scenes from the battle replayed on the big screens around Blue Rain's stadium.

"Good job. Well fought. You have improved since before." Yu WenZhou praised and nodded my way while the host went on and on about the highlights of the match.

"Of course, everyone expects me to slay gods after all." I joke lightheartedly. "But in all seriously, I think my luck was just better since winner could have been either team."

Yu WenZhou smiled at my response.

x

"Oooh, so you are that Big Sis from the game! Big Sis is really pretty in person!" Lu HanWen caught my attention when he slipped his smaller hands innocently into mine. He became even more friendly with me after the match.

"Xiao Lu is very cute in person too. You look so huggable." My big sister personality took over, but I settle with ruffled the kid on the head. He was still so young that he hasn't gone through the growth spurt yet. Ah, he was so incredibly short and cute.

"Really? I want to hug pretty sis too! Oh and can Big Sis draw my character? I really like Big Sis's drawings." Lu HanWen said while hugging me in the middle.

"Of course, of course. If Little Lu wants one, I will draw one for you." I happily the kid back. Did I mention how cute the boy was? Let me have my moment. I missed YiFan's cute early teenage years, so I was using Little Lu as a substitute to fill the void.

"Yay!"

"Hey. Naomi, why don't you draw my awesome Troubling Rain. Isn't he much more interesting than that brat's character? How about it? It is a rare chance! You should take it." Huang ShaoTian advertised.

"Hm...No thanks." I rejected him immediately.

"Oi! What do you mean no thanks. The Sword Saint is giving you a very good opportunity here! You should take it and be thankful! And brat. Stop acting cute. And stop eating her tofu(1) (不要卖萌。不要吃她的豆腐)." Huang ShaoTian tried to separate Little Lu away from me after my uninterested response.

"Stop bullying Little Lu. Captain Yu, there is bullying in the team." I taddletaled and Little Lu stuck his tongue at Huang ShaoTian.

"Haha." Yu WenZhou laughed at our liveliness.

x

"Ahem." The host tried to redirected all our back to the programing. "It seems like Naomi and Lu HanWen know each other beforehand? Is there an interesting story behind it since it seem like you two seem pretty close."

"Yea! We fought a few times in game a few times in the summer. Her skills even more impressive than before! She is really good at drawing. I was really sad that she didn't my draw character over the summer though." Lu HanWen answered for both of us.

"Oh. Little Lu, why don't we say high to Little Blue! He might be watching, yea?" I suggested.

Summer seemed like a long time ago. With everything going on lately, I haven't really logged onto the game on my main account and chatted with any of the people I met over the summer. This included the four alliance guild leaders, people from Happy, and Blue Bridge.

"Okay! On 3? 1...2...3! Hi Leader! How are you?"

"Hi Little Blue! Hope you have been well!"

Lu HanWen and I smiled at the nearest camera and waved excitedly.

... Thus, somewhere in a small apartment in City G, a young man fell out of his chair in surprise while watching Blue Rain's match tonight on his computer.

x

"Oh? Who are you two waving at? Who is this Leader? Little Blue?" The host tried to get more gossips from us.

"Someone we hung out a lot in game over the summer. " Little Lu and I said at the same time.

"We should move on with the program." Yu WenZhou said to the announcer before the announcer could ask more questions. Yu WenZhou also motioned Huang ShaoTian and Lu HanWen to follow him back to Blue Rain's resting area to wait for the aftermatch interviews to start. "Well played, I look forward to your future growth." Yu WenZhou and I shook hands.

"Haha. You are too polite, Captain Yu. Good luck with the rest of the season."

"Thank you. You are quite capable. Don't look down on yourself too much." Yu WenZhou left the stage after the final words of encouragement.

"Nice job! Although, I did most of the work. Your support is appreciated though!" Huang ShaoTian and I high fived when he walked pass by.

"Let's play again in game sometimes, Big Sis!" Lu HanWen waved energetic and I waved back.

x

Usually after this part, YueHua, Lin, and I got to leave. But this time, we had that big announcement to make. To make sure the announcement didn't impact the teams' performance tonight in anyway, it was decided that the announcement would be kept a secret to the two teams present and be made after tonight's match.

YueHua came to give me a box and stood by me on stage after the Blue Rain members left. The audience all Oh'ed and Ah'ed in excitement when they saw a familiar looking box in my hands. The camera also zoomed in on me and the item in my hand.

"So, Naomi and YueHua. Glory Co said that you brought us some special announcements today? What is it? What did you bring? We all can't wait to see."

"First, the reveal for the unpainted Project Desert Dust will be unveiled on Glory's anniversary." As I talked, a blacked out unpainted figure image with a white question mark appeared on all the electronic screens. The crowd cheered in excitement. Even though there wasn't too many Tyranny's fans here, most of the Glory fans still liked to collect the different figures.

The sculpting of Project Desert Dust was delayed for over one month due to the upcoming update. I took part of the equipment design team, skill design, and beta testing team. Some of the work was for the whole Glory and some was for the White Robed Witch. All I can reveal was Glory Co decided to add an unique skill to the White Robed Witch, like a signature move, when she reached level 75. They wanted me to come up with something original that fitted her personality. I guess this was a special reward from them because the views skyrocketed for certain matches after I started to perform better against the pros.

Running around with the other department delayed my own work, but not to the point of taking almost five month to finish the unpainted figure. The announcement was just delayed until the anniversary to work up the hype. I actually have already started to paint the figure a few weeks ago. The figure was actually close to completion. Knowing Glory Co.'s marketing strategy, the painted figure probably won't be revealed until All-Star Weekend when all the fans would be watching. Then, the pre-order would be set shortly after that.

x

"Second, Project Vaccaria will start being shipped out this coming week." I raised the boxed figure in my hands for the cameras, a 3-D projection of Project Vaccaria also appeared on stage. "Please double check your address you put on the website to make sure there will be no shipping error. All the first wave figure is expected to get to everyone by end of this month. Please look for yours in the mail and let us know how you like yours."

Cheers erupted. After almost a year since the initial look at the art concept of the figure, Project Vaccaria was finally going to be in hands of fans. Of course the fans couldn't wait to see the final product.

"Last announcement we have tonight. Glory Co is always trying to find new ways to make the game more interesting for the players. So this year for the Glory anniversary, there will be a big update to the game. The company has put a lot of planning and resources for this update. Let's take a look at a special never seen before peek of what awaits us!" YueHua said into the microphone.

The stadium turns dark and a single snowflake fell on the center projection stage. There was a blinding white light and then the White Robed Witch appeared in the center of the dark stage. With a wave of her staff, she brewed up a snowstorm with her at the center of the raging wind. When the snow settled, the scene also changed. The White Robed Witch now stood on a grassy hill terrain.

A short 15 second teaser played on all the screens from different angles and a 3-D godview could be seen on the projection stage. The short trailer was actually really simple. It was White Robed Witch running through different new terrain fields. At the very end, she encountered a brand new monster or boss and used never seen before a large scale ice type skill. [Coming soon to Glory. 12/3 of this year.] The trailer ending with these texts.

The crowd erupted into another uproar when the lights kicked on the stadium once more, louder than before. There were already chatters about what this could all mean. Were new skills coming out? New maps? New bosses? New dungeons? New level cap? There were many questions from fans. Even the two teams at the stadium speculated among themselves about what they had seen in the short clip.

"Look for more official details on the gaming website on 11/18!" YueHua reminded the crowd.

"Please look forwards to the update on 12/3!" I followed up like we have practiced for the past week before walking off the stage together.

Later that night, my phone was flooded with new message notifications from the QQ Glory Pro Player chat and people posting inquiries on my Weibo. The only response I could give on both ends was I was under strict secrecy contract with Glory Co. so they all have to wait until the official announcement on 11/18.

x

"Ahaha. You could have told me that you were interested in that kind of tactic. I could have given you some tips." Wei Chen messaged me out of the blue after the match.

"Thanks. I will keep that in mind for the future." I replied ambiguous.

"Good. Good. Keep it up." Wei Chen praised like a proud teacher.

Later in the evening, YiFan messaged to ask, "When did you became Senior Wei's second disciple?"

"That old guy must have smoked too much and has hallucinated. Ignore his nonsense." I told YiFan. "Did he call me BaJie(八戒)(2)? I think my ears were ringing earlier. Wait, who is the first?"

x

As expected the morning after, many eNews stations posted their over analyzed gossips of what it could mean when Huang ShaoTian put his arm around my shoulders after the match. Could this mean a romantic relationship between the two? Then what does it mean when Lu HanWen seem to suddenly hug Naomi on stage? Huang ShaoTian was seen trying to pry Lu HanWen off Naomi, then Naomi trying to drag Captain Yu into the fight. Could this mean a budding love triangle captured right under the cameras? Many eNews posted their best guesses for people to read. People loved to read this kind of non-nutritious stuff.

Also as a unforeseen results of my match with Blue Rain's team, many fanfictions and fanarts of Troubling Rain x White Robed Witch, Swoksaar x White Robed Witch, and even love triangles of the three popped up all over the night for the following weeks. Many fans linked their works to my Weibo, so it was unavoidable that I had read and seen some of them. I had to say, many of the works were very creative and well done. Many kudos for those fans for taking the time to write and draw.

* * *

(1) Eating someone's tofu is a Chinese slang for making sexual, romantic, and/or unwanted physical touching/advances towards someone (usually a woman). Closest translation might be physical sexual harassment; feeling someone up in a unwanted way. Like if a man touches a woman's butt can be considered he ate her tofu. Can be reversed too. I guess Naomi hugging Wang JieXi that one time on Valentine's day could be considered her eating his tofu….oops

(2) BaJie is reference to one of the big Chinese classic, Journey to the West. Bajie, who happened to be cursed to have the appearance of a pig, is the monk's second disciple. So you can see why Naomi's isn't too happy be to referenced as the second disciple.


	47. Breaking the Update

Let's fast forward my life to night of 12/2, since nothing major happened in the last half of a month. Oh, I guess the Project Vaccaria did all ship out and arrive on time. People raved about the figure and details. Pictures of displayed figure, comments, suggestions, and praises flooded my Weibo. The review of the figure on the official website was currently at 4.9/5 stars. No reviews was lower than a 3 stars. Almost of not all of the 3 and 4 star reviews was due to paint defect from the factory, delayed shipping, or figure damaged from shipping. Glory Co HR department had reached out to those people to exchange the defective product for a new one, so most people weren't too mad.

The only other important event in the last few weeks was I had my last invitational match of November. That week I went to Team Void's home stadium. I faced Void's Captain Li Xuan and his Crying Devil. After watching YiFan play the same class for a while, I thought I had a pretty good understanding for the class and could win. But, that was just a fool's dream. I lost to him as YiFan did.

The fight had started out steady. We were almost evenly matched. However, high level battle required intense amount of concentration. Eventually my body and mind became fatigued as the battle dragged out over 5 minutes. In the end, I my hand speed slowed and was caught in his Ghost Feast. I couldn't recover from all the status inflicted upon my character and quickly died after that. Even though I had lost in the end, the fans at least seemed satisfied with the progression of the battle.

I felt disappointed in myself after the match because I had hoped to avenge YiFan in this fight. I wanted to beat him up as he did to YiFan at the last All-Star Weekend. I chatted with YiFan about my disappointment afterwards, but YiFan comforted me and told me it wasn't a big deal at all. He said, I should just forgot about avenge, and I should just play for fun. When Happy becomes an official team, he would defeat the number one Ghostblade with his own hands. I was moved to tears; my baby bro was growing up so fast. Why wasn't I closer to watch his growth?

x

Close to midnight, I prepared for the major update like every other player that was awake. To celebrate the major update, most people from Glory Co took a vacation day on 12/3. This day, most of them went to enjoy what they have worked on for the past 3 years. It was actually looked down upon if you showed up at work, if you didn't need to be there. It was a weird work culture, but I don't need a reason to avoid going to work.

Even though, I didn't work on the project as long as some of the others, I still took the day off. I even took the rest of this week, and the whole next week off too. Unlike the pro teams, where they had people power level the player's accounts 24/7 until they reached level 75, I had to level the White Robed Witch by myself. The company showed understanding my situation approved this time for me to level up as working from home.

At the strike of midnight, I updated my game. I posted the official image for unpainted Project Desert Dust on my Weibo while waiting for the update patch to finish download and install. My Weibo was flooded by Tyranny fans during the update. I read through some of the incoming comments to pass time.

When I logged into the new update, I was impressed that there was no lag despite the large amount of players active at this moment. I checked my friend list, nearly everyone's name was light up - meaning everyone I had befriended recently was currently online.

[You also came to join the festivity?] Ye Xiu was the first one to greet me with his fast hand speed.

[Is it okay for you to be up this late, Sis?] YiFan asked out of concern soon after.

Many other greetings followed.

[Yup. I have rest of this week and next week off to level up. I had never joined the fun on Glory anniversary before. I wanted to see what it is all about. What are you guys up to?]

When I played Glory years ago, I was only in middle and high school. My parents wouldn't let me stay up late and take off school days to play a game. Then, I quit the game for many years after. So this was my first time to join the masses on the fun.

[First kills, want to join?] Ye Xiu casually asked.

[For the first kill awards? No thanks. I need to concentrate leveling up for my next match. I don't have anyone to power level my character like the clubs. Good luck!]

[No luck needed.] I could somehow hear his arrogant laugh in my head even though we were typing in the chat.

[Little Blue, Little Blue. What are you doing? Want to help me level in a level 70 dungeon?] I bothered my decided victim. Over time I found Little Blue can be a bit of a pushover sometimes. He often cave in to my demands if I bothered him enough.

[Ah. Sorry, Goddess. I need to help my guild get first kill in a level 75 dungeon.] Little Blue quickly sent back.

I sighed at Blue Bridge's response. After Blue Rain's match, Little Blue's attitude towards me became much more polite, much to my disappointment. I like much better when Little Blue treated me just like another normal player.

After killing time by running a nearby five man level 70 dungeon, I quickly got bored and tired after one run. Dungeons were safer place for me to train in than out in the open since no one could follow me in here. My skills were good enough to handle the same level mini bosses and dungeon boss by myself. Sure, I needed to burn through some potions, but the privacy and experience from the dungeon was worth it. But playing alone was really lonely. My sleep schedule wasn't as easy to flip as some other people's. Seeing Ye Xiu and everyone busy with their own things, I decided to go to bed and welcome a new morning.

x

When I woke up, I opened up QQ and Glory on my desktop while eating breakfast in front of the screen. I also opened up the Glory forum to see what big things had happened over night. The Glory world was already shook. Overnight, Happy took the first clear record for two different level 75 ten person dungeons. When I just logged on, another notification popped on TV: [Congratulations to Guild Tyrannical Ambition for the First Kill on The Land of Despairing Spirit's Original Wraith.]

Happy obtained first kills because they had Ye Xiu and everyone from the team running the dungeon. Being partially involved with some parts of the new update, I knew they the dungeons were still pretty difficult for even elite normal players to break just in less than 8 hours. The only way for Tyrannical Ambition to be able do it too could only mean their pro-players were helping out too.

I opened up the party roster just to double check. Sure enough, right in the front, Desert Dust, Dazzling Hundred Blossoms, Immovable Rock, and Dark Thunder's name were listed. I checked the time. With Zhang XinJie's strict sleeping schedule, he wouldn't be have been up for more than 30 minutes. Darn...don't they have better things to do like daily training or something? I guess the attraction of the new update was just too great. All the pro-players were all giant Glory nerd too.

As I prepared to get ready to grind more in dungeons to level up, Ye Xiu send out a message in the Glory Pro Player chat.

[Who's here?] Grim Lord asked in chat.

His question was pushed off the screen immediately when people answered one after another. Grim Lord and Troubling Rain got involved in some trash talking over the chat. Even Vaccaria joined in after a while.

[Anyone's group wants to run a 20 player dungeon, press 1!] Grim Lord then suddenly asked shamelessly .

Many people responded with sweat drop or coughing up blood emojis. This question aggroed more people in the chat, but in the eventually someone actually pressed 1 in the chat.

[1.] Vaccaria actually responded seriously.

Vaccaria. Wang JieXi. Tiny Herb. Tiny Herb and Happy join forces. Wang JieXi and Ye Xiu. Vaccaria and Lord Grim. This is going to be amazing! Wait. Oh no, what about YiFan! That was my train of thought when I saw the message. At this point I couldn't help but to type something in the chat too.

[Jeez, all of you guys are really breaking the update for the normal players. How will anyone break your records later?] White Robed Witch said in the chat, representing the little people.

Many greetings followed when everyone saw me suddenly pop up online. I had to scrolled through all the messages to find Grim Lord's response.

[Oh you were playing dead? ShaBaiBai, do you really still consider yourself a normal player? If you wanted a spot, you should have said so from the start. I'm sure Tiny Herb can kick someone for you.]

[...] Both Vaccaria and White Robed Witch answered at the same time in the chat.

[Not interested. I have other things to do.] I typed for good measures afterwards.

Ye Xiu and Wang JieXi continued to discuss the details about the 20-player dungeon and eventually took the conversation in game.

[What are you up to Goddess?] Someone asked.

[Leveling. I don't have anyone to power level my character for me. Got to keep up with the rest of you guys somehow.]

[Oh.] Many players send blessings my way.

x

[Good luck.] I sent a message to YiFan in game, worried something might happen between him and Tiny Herb.

[I will be fine.] YiFan responded. That's right, he will be fine. He had already grown up so much. He was no longer the previous YiFan that was let go by Tiny Herb.

I decided to concentrate my efforts in game too. If I want to get even get close to level 75 by next match, there was so much grinding I needed to do. I steeled myself for the repetitiveness and dullness to come for these two weeks.

After running through a level 70 dungeon once, Happy and Tiny Herb also completed their level 75 collaboration run. Jeez, the skill levels of pros were just too high. The whole Happy group pretty much logged off after that.

[How was it?] I couldn't help but to ask Wang JieXi in a private QQ chat.

[Dealing with him is just bad business.]

[Haha. Did Ye Xiu try to roll for all the equipment because he plays unspecialized?] Even without seeing Wang JieXi's current expression in person, I could roughly guess how everything went. I had experienced Ye Xiu's shameless first hand before.

[Was it that obvious?]

[You should have guessed he would pull something like that from the beginning. That guy is shameless as he is crafty.]

[You are right.]

x

For the rest of my days off, after practicing my daily training materials. I grinded all the possible level 70 dungeons I could run by myself to the point that I wanted to vomit. Sometimes, Little Blue and other players from various guild came to run level 70 dungeons with me to help me gather experience faster. However, their help weren't consistent enough to make a big difference. The only reliable way to level up was to spend a lot of time running dungeon and killing monsters in isolated areas alone.

How fast can one person really level up alone? I wasn't someone who could play 24/7 like a lot of hardcore video game fans. By the time for my next match, I only managed to reach level 73 and my experience sat at 35%. I had made a lot of progress, but my progress couldn't match all the level 75 characters in the Alliance.

As if the Alliance took pity on me, my invitational match with Tyranny also followed a 2v2 format similar to my match at Blue Rain. I stood with Han WenQing, Lin JingYan, and Zhang JiaLe on Tyranny's stage while waiting for pairing for the match to be announced.

Desert Dust and White Robed Witch VS Dazzling Hundred Blossoms and Dark Thunder.

This will be fun.

* * *

Fun Extras from last chapter:

Ye Xiu and Wei Chen somehow got into a discussion about who would fit into the following roles

Modern day Tang SanZang: Wei Chen because he claims to be.

1st disciple Sun WuKong: Huang ShaoTian because he is a golden money (lol) and befittingly knew Wei Chen before the other two

2nd disciple Zhu BaJie: Wang Naomi because she eats a lot per Wei Chen...During the time she stayed at City H during the summer. She often clean off any food left on plates when everyone else is full. Everyone wondered if Naomi's tummy was a black whole because no one knows where it all goes.

3rd disciple Sha WuJing: Mystery for now.

White Dragon Horse: The White Robed Witch because...she is an mostly white character so she fitted the role per Wei Chen.

Wei Chen: So who you would be? The Demonic Ox King?

Ye Xiu: Heh. Me? I would be Buddha.

Wei Chen: Che! Screw you.

* * *

A/N: Look for a second update tomorrow! Double update this weekend. :)

* * *

I'm getting so bad about replying to reviews, I'm sorry OTZ. Things have been rough lately so I just haven't had the energy to do much.

Thank you so much to people who have left reviews. I super appreciate it and love reading them all. Thank you for all your continuous support.

To Naliyu: I don't feel bad for Huang XiaoTian either. I feel like if he is typing into the public chat so much that just means he isn't trying hard enough and he is probably fine lol

To Deer-Silence: Thanks for catching that grammar problem I missed during edit. Thanks for the kind feedback! If the media were aware of all the angles, it would be a love circle/sphere haha.

To linear salo: Thanks. Hope you like the new updates.


	48. Dragon Shakes its Head

"Players to your booth!"

"Don't cause a team wipe out." Han WenQing said to me with a straight face while we walked together towards one side of the stage.

"Hey. Have more faith. That was like forever ago." If I didn't know the guy well, I would probably feel offended by his lack of confidence. But I knew he was only joking in his own way. He was poking fun at the fact how bad I was during my first year of Glory.

"It was only 10 years, not that long. We will see."

"Just don't get in my way, Old Man."

"I should be saying that to you, Brat."

With the last few words, we parted ways and entered our own player's booth.

x

Ready!

The four characters were loaded into four random corners of a old Chinese town style map.

Where there are buildings, there will be rooftops. Instead of moving randomly on the map, I jumped on a barrel and grabbed onto the edge of a window. From there, I grabbed the ledge of the roof and lift myself up. I crouched low to the roof and examined the map. Around the same time, I saw Zhang JiaLe's Dazzling Hundred Blossoms had the same idea and popped up few buildings away.

We made eye contact in game. When we saw each other, Dazzling Hundred Blossoms didn't hesitate one bit and jumped from rooftop to rooftop, coming my way. He readied a grenade in hand and tossed it my way. Before the small hand size explosive landed near me. I quickly made my way off the roof and dashed away in the streets below to get out of his line of sight and away from this place as fast as I can.

Booom!

Not a few seconds later, an explosion came from the streets behind. This was no doubt from the explosion was caused by the grenade he held on previously. This was also marked the start of battle.

Instead of running mindlessly to a completely new different area of the map, I stayed within the small radius of where the first attack happened. Sure the sound would probably attract Dark Thunder into the area, but Old Han wouldn't leave me hanging either.

The most dangerous place was also the safest place. I had a feeling that Dazzling Hundred Blossoms was also waiting for me to run away carelessly so he could find me more easily. I stayed close to the walls and hid within the darkest shadows between the buildings while moving towards a more open area I saw in a distance.

My attacks and view were all limited by all the surrounding constructions. I couldn't get up on the roof either because the Spitfire would see me before I see him. Dazzling Hundred Blossoms most likely stayed on the roof for the higher ground to more easily give firepower support, and Dark Thunder was probably sneaking between the buildings like I was. I wasn't going to stay completely still just in case of Dazzling Hundred Blossoms met up with Dark Thunder before I was able to find Desert Dust. I constantly watched and listened to any movement or noise from the roofs nearby, but all was quiet.

x

When I got close to the open area in the middle of all the buildings, I noticed no one was here yet. Not sure if anyone has found anyone else yet, I decided to cast a large scale magic attack to let everyone the general area know where I was at. I casually wasted a Heavenly Lightning Earthen Fire in the middle of the open area and quickly hid between two buildings and saw who would show up after my magic show. They can all came to greet me instead of me doing the hard work to find them. Maybe it was my Glory sixth senses tingling, I felt people rushing over here even though I still haven't seen anyone yet.

A few moments after, Desert Dust rushed into the open area and examined the field. Shortly after, bullets and grenades greeted Desert Dust. Desert Dust dodged backwards but then within the explosion a faint shadow appeared. Dark Thunder used Sand Toss and tossed a black brick when Desert Dust turned his head away from the sand to avoid the blind effect. Like Desert Dust had could still see from his blind spots, he quickly rolled and dodged the brick. As if expecting Desert Dust would do all of that, a grenade was carefully tossed to where Desert Dust had rolled to.

I teleported out when I saw the hand grenade, and sent the grenade flying and exploding in a distance with a Falling Flower Palm. With all the three cast members finally together, I also stepped forwards to complete the set. It wasn't the smartest idea to step into the open like this, but this was the quickest way to determine where the enemies were. I also knew Old Man Han had my back, and that itself was very ressasure to know. I wasn't worried at all.

Desert Dust and I exchanged glance with Dark Thunder and Dazzling Hundred Blossoms across open area before the other two darted away, seeking safety in the backstreets and rooftops. I looked at Desert Dust to see what he thought. He only pointed to my character and the rooftops before following Dark Thunder into the alleys.

Examining the wall of a building, there were a few bricks that didn't lay flat against the wall. Using those bricks, I easily jumped up to the roof thanks to my daily training jumping up the side of mountain. I think Ye Xiu would be proud if he was watching.

Dazzling Hundred Blossom was attack Desert Dust in the streets below and seemed a bit surprised at my arrival. He probably mapped out a few area I would climb up more easily and this was not one of them. However, he didn't stay stunned for too long and tossed a grenade my way as a welcoming present.

I dodged with Z-Shake. A simple maneuver that any player could pull off in theory and rushed towards the Spitfire with Dragon Rises from the Sea. Dazzling Hundred Blossom immediately changed direction since my Dragon Rises from the Sea only allowed me to charge in a straight line. I quickly cancel the rest of the skill and changed direction and attacked with Dragon Break the Ranks. Dazzling Hundred Blossom tossed a grenade and shot it with his weapon, creating a smokescreen.

I used Falling Flower Palm without a thought. If you use smoke to hide, all I had to do was blow it away.

Zhang JiaLe couldn't get away fast enough and caught up in my Falling Flower Palm. Dazzling Hundred Blossom didn't get blow away too far since he was not knocked up into the air. But I didn't want him to be blown away too far either, so it was all good. My goal was actually push him back into the opening and knock him down into the open area. Old Man and I silently agreed to rendezvous back in that area with the other two and beat the crap out of both of them at the same time.

I teleported forward and launched an onslaught of combo and false combo attacks.

"You don't have to attack fast, just find a steady beat that will keep your opponent busy." Ye Xiu's advice over the summer somehow appeared in my mind in this moment.

I slowed down my hands speed just enough to help my skills get off cooldown while still continuously striking my opponent. Little by little, I forced Zhang JiaLe to back towards the direction I wanted him too. A little Dragon Tooth, Tyrant's Destruction, Falling Flower Palm, and Dragon Breaks the Ranks mixed in with some normal attacks. Using these combos, I finally knocked Zhang JiaLe off the roof with my White Robed Witch following closely.

x

Around the same time I pushed Zhang JiaLe off the roof and back into the middle of the empty area, Old Man also arrived on the scene with Lin JingYan. Desert Dust sent Dark Thunder to where Dazzling Hundred Blossom was with a strong punch. I concentrated on keeping Dazzling Hundred Blossom busy and close to the ground because he needed to seek higher ground to get better view and maximum his character's abilities.

Zhang JiaLe was a crafty one, I will give him that. He suppressed me with his fire powerful at close range while running towards higher ground. Old Han saw that I needed help. He quickly rushed over with Desert Dust, bringing Dark Thunder along with him, and prevented Dazzling Hundred Blossom from getting away.

While Desert Dust kept the two busy, it was time for me to show off more of my magic skills. While Old Man kept both characters busy, I casted a Magic Prison around them so Dazzling Hundred Blossom and Dark Thunder were just skilless sitting ducks for the next 4 seconds. Sure, they could use skills if they could break out of the area I casted Magic Prison, since the skill doesn't limit their movement at all. But with Old Han there holding down the fort, I wasn't too worried.

Low on HP, Dazzling Hundred Blossom tried his smoke screen trick again to his side a chance to find cover in the building again. Old Man seemed to predicted this beforehand and already made plans to charge straight through the smoke without hesitation to block of their exit. Desert Dust caught one of them, but the two had split up in the smokescreen.

I saw someone dash out from the smoke, making a run for the closest alley. With teleport, I caught up with Dark Thunder and blocked his way with Ice Wall. He turned and dodged my Piercing Lightning while counter attacked with a black brick. I broke the brick with Dragon Tooth before it reached, but that was a distraction. He came charging towards me with Knee Strike.

In the end of our skirmish, I managed to push him back to the middle of the area with Dragon Breaks the Ranks. At this point, Dark Thunder and Dazzling Hundred Blossom were somewhat close. With a little bit of luck, maybe I could get both their character with Rising Dragon Soars the Sky.

x

Miscalculated was what everyone thought when I unleashed the level 70 Battle Mage attack. The game from my point of view, the people saw that Dark Thunder and Dazzling Hundred Blossom wasn't lined up in a straight line in front of me. My angle of attack was off! However with a shake of my weapon, the dragon's path turned just enough to grab Dark Thunder and the unexpecting Dazzling Hundred Blossom, who was tangled up with Desert Dust. The icy blue dragon grabbed the two by its mouth and shot up into the sky before exploding into a display of magic fireworks. I took the rest of Dark Thunder's HP just like that, but Dazzling Hundred Blossom survived.

Zhang JiaLe was surprised at the angle of that Rising Dragon Soars the Sky. Being distracted in battle was a dangerous thing, especially if you were facing a super experience veteran like Old Han. While he was scratching the back of his head thinking how the attack reached him, Han WenQing cleaned out the rest of Dazzling Hundred Blossom's HP too.

GLORY!

"What do you think?" I grinned at expectantly at the Old Man when won.

"Not bad. Did you learn that from him?"

"Yea. But I'm no good. Are you mad?"

"No at all. Let's go." Han WenQing turned and left.

x

Cheers welcomed Han WenQing and I as we walked.

"Good job." Zhang JiaLe and Lin JingYan whispered to me on stage as the host talked and replayed some of the highlights of the match.

"Wow, Naomi. Just wow. I can say for all of us here and watching online that the last attack was most unexpected. What was that final attack?" The host talked to me the moment I stood on the stage again with the three veterans.

"A failed attempt at Dragon Raises its Head." I answered truthfully but the whole stadium thought I was cracking a joke and laughed.

"Your synergy with Captain Han seems pretty good! I think I can say for everyone here that we were surprised at your teamwork tonight!"

"It wasn't that hard. When you know this guy since the beginning, you learn to work with him." I answered simply.

Huhs? and Ahs? came from the audiences.

"Beginning as in?" The host asked me for a clarification.

"Start of Glory. We were friends on the release of the 1st server." I replied.

"Did you know Ye Qiu back then too?"

"Yes." I confirmed.

All sorts of discussion erupted from the crowd.

"Do you mind if I ask what kind of relationship the three of you have?"

How to answer that question. I looked to Old Man Han and saw he was looking at me too. When our glaze met, we seem to ask ourselves the same question. What was our relationship? I never really thought about the question. I was very comfortable and content hanging around Old Man as I have. I might even have taken Old Man's presence for granted. Just as we stared at each other, it seemed like we both arrived at our own answer.

"Old Rivals." Han WenQing answered with a straightforward face.

"Old Friends." I said at the same time.

"Oh then." The host must have been waiting for something more but seeing we weren't going to spill anymore beans, he could only end the event. "Let's put our hands again for that battle!"

I shook hands with all three of Tyranny's players for the camera before leaving the stage.

x

[Dragon Raises its Head huh?] Ye Xiu messaged me shortly after my match.

[Sorry, I'm no good. That's all I can manage to do right now.] I couldn't help to feel like I let Ye Xiu down. He passed on such an awesome skill to me, but I still haven't fully learn it after so many month. Even now, it was more like Dragon Shakes its Head. I'm a terrible stupid.

[It's not bad. Keep it up.] He encouraged instead.

Then I realized Happy must have been watching the live broadcast. Ah! I felt embarrassed to death to know all of Happy's member saw my terrible version of Ye Xiu's Dragon Raises its Head. No wait, all of Glory will know of this. The two skills levels were too far apart. I wanted to dig a hole and die in there right now.

The aftermath of the match the morning after was all over place. The hottest topics online were "are Naomi and Captain Han WenQing really just 'Friends'?", "Captain Han WenQing states they are rivals. Could he and Ye Qiu be love rivals too?", and "Naomi in love triangle with Han WenQing and Ye Qiu for 10 years?!"

With the topic being so hot, even the official Glory eNews put a small blurb about the gossips on the next issue. Following all the gossips, fans were hard at work writing up new fanfictions and drawing up new fanarts for the new pairings. With Han WenQing and Ye Qiu tossed into the mix, the love triangle just became that much more complex.


	49. The Two Faced Lady Fortune

Can't believe it has been over 6 month since the 1st chapter of this fanfic! Thank you all for all the views and lovely reviews. Here is a new drawing for the title girl: bunnymaid/art/The-White-Robed-Witch-Take-2-753426992

(Sorry. I never figured out how to put links successfully on FF. If someone knows how leave it in a review thanks.)

Edit: A lovely reader pointed out a plot hole in this chapter. So a small line of the chapter was edited to fill the hole. To clarify things, the White Robed Witched is still only level 74 at the end of this chapter. I just took out the part where Naomi was able to equip the new level 75 gears. No other changes were made. Sorry for the inconsistency. Oops on my part.

* * *

Christmas was always a festive time of the year. Colored lights decorated the street lamps and winter themed stickers on every shop window. With the pale snow falling every so gently down the sky, the scene was picture perfect. However, this picturesque scene was wasted on someone like me. On this Christmas day, I didn't go out with friend; I didn't go visit family; I didn't go anywhere.

I spend most of my day locked away in my little apartment, playing Glory. You are probably laughing at me for being antisocial. But there was only three days for the Christmas event! For this year's Christmas Event, Glory designed a stocking collecting event that will last 3 days. A player can only accept the Christmas quest from the Christmas Event NPC in town up to three times in a day. Is it me or was Glory obsessed with the number 3 for some reason?

Anyways, the player can accept the quest in the single player or a group ranking. However, once you choose one of the two categories, you had to stick with that for all of the 3 event days. You can't change your mind halfway through.

Breaking the rankings down more, all the players were separated by levels. For example, all the level 75 characters were in a ranking, level 70 to 74 characters were in a different ranking, level 65 to 69, and so on so forth. Level 70 to 74 was where I fell. After the initial three levels ups I managed to get from my days off, I haven't able to break through to the next level after that. I was currently stuck at level 73 at 75%. I hoped that in the Christmas Event, I would earn some experience books that would push me closer to level 75. Any useful equipment, skill point books, and rare materials would be a nice bonus too, of course. Anything I can't use, I'm sure Ye Xiu would take like a recycle plant.

x

I took my time reading through the event description again while logging into the game to make sure I understood the rules correctly. I worked for the company doesn't mean I know all the details about the game and the events. I also looked at the ranking boards ahead of time, it seemed like Happy and most of the troublesome elite members from the different club guilds were all fighting over each other in the level 75 ranking. I was glad that I didn't have to fight with anyone from Happy.

Just as I was stocking up on supplies for my first Christmas event run, three notification popped up on TV one after another.

[Congratulations to Lord Grim and Steamed Bun Invasion for achieving a grand slam in the Christmas event.]

[Player Lord Grim has achieved a grand slam in the Christmas event and has been rewarded: Apocalypse Star.]

[Player Steamed Bun has achieved a grand slam in the Christmas event and has been rewarded: Sundering Apocalypse.]

[What's a grand slam?] I quickly messaged Ye Xiu after seeing the TV.

[When you collect all 20 stocking on the map.]

Would it be possible for me to collecting all 20 stocking? Probably not. I wasn't currently in any guild and didn't have many close online friends. Forming a team for the event was out of the question. Playing in the individual round meant it was 1 vs 49 players for 20 stocking. The chances would be very slim, but that didn't mean I wouldn't try.

[At least try to make it on the rankings, you will probably at least get something decent then.] Ye Xiu send me a message almost like he read my mind. He didn't seem to have any hope of me achieving a Grand Slam at all either.

[Okay. Thanks.] I replied to him before heading into my first run.

x

When I accepted the quest from the event NPC, the White Robed Witch was dropped into a snowy field. The sunlight was a bit strong on this map, making the snow covered map almost too bright.

I was delight to find my character's outfit easily blended into the surrounding. If you don't look closely, you might not see her in a glance. I was still cautious though, I had my character hide behind a bush when the round started. It was a good thing because many players passed by the bush I hide myself behind. Many of them weren't even too interested in the event anymore when they saw my name in this round's grouping. Many of them were just running around looking for me and pick a fight with me for fun.

After 10 minutes into the round, 15 stocking had shown up so far. My luck was good and saw someone picked up a stocking and followed them silently around the map. Instead of carrying any stocking myself, I used this random player as my stocking backpack. I would silently kill off any player nearby and dropped any stocking I found for this random player to carry. If this player was killed off by someone else, I would following the other person and use the same strategy until they were killed by someone else. When the final countdown started, my current target carried 12 stocking. He probably thought his luck was great until I ambushed him from behind a tree and pocketed the 12 stocking in my own bag. After that, I hid well until the 120 second timer ended.

The next two rounds, I repeated the same strategy. Because the event map was randomly chosen each time, some maps were harder for me to hide in than others. One thing didn't change in any of the round was the excitement of the players when they saw the White Robed Witch in their grouping. Many of them wanted to compare notes, others just wanted to see my character in person, and some even wanted to help me in the event.

Some of the normal players actually came and offered me their stockings because they respected me for competing against the pro despite my normal player background. To them, I represented the normal players in the pro scene.

I wasn't backed by any club and didn't have someone to power level my account for me. Each level was something I grind for step by step just like the rest of them. I needed the prizes from this event to help level my character. Many of them respected the amount of work I put into the game while working a regular Monday to Friday job. I was the Goddess of the normal players, some called me. Little by little, the word started to spread. With the help of everyone in the second and third round, I obtained a high number of stocking of 14 and 17 in those round.

Most people in the individual ranking in my level bracket had a stocking count of 18 after three rounds. After I completed my three rounds for the day, my stocking count stop way ahead of the rest of the individual. 43 stocking on the first day. That was the highest number for an individual across all the level brackets.

[Not bad for the first day.] Ye Xiu send a QQ message when I had already logged off the game.

I had the day off, but I still had other things to do. For one, I still had to finish the drawing of Flowing Cloud for little Lu as promised. Also, I had a feeling Trouble Rain from Blue Rain would be next in the figure line. I might as well do some homework before then.

[I had a lot of help.] I made a mental note to post a public thank you on my Weibo for all the help I received.

x

For the next two days, I played my daily three rounds after work. Again and again, I received help from many players in game. I even achieved Grand Slam once. I got a nice level 75 ring that had +10% Magic Attack and +2 Cast Speed. Which was a nice upgrade from my +6% Magic Attack and + 1 Cast Speed level 65 ring.

After the three day Christmas event, the White Robed Witch stood at the top of the level 70-74 individual ranking as the undisputed number one. The number of stocking difference between the White Robed Witch and the number two character was over 50 stockings. Feeling so grateful to everyone, I posted a illustration of the White Robed Witch dressed in a Christmas outfit putting presents in stockings that hang over a fireplace, and typed an official thanks to everyone who helped.

x

When both the clock hands came together on 12:00, it was the end of the 12/27 and beginning of 12/28. This also signaled the official end of the Christmas battles and beginning of present opening! With over 130 stocking to open, I put the item on a hot key and started to click through as fast as I could. Even constantly clicking on the item, it still took me over a minute to open all the items, and I couldn't tell you how many times I made it on TV because I was clicking through the stockings so fast.

The constant notifications of rare items flashed on TV showed that many other people were tearing through their own stockings at this time. I caught glimpses of Happy member's names once in a while too. By the end of the stocking opening session, the White Robed Witch level up to level 74. I also gained two very rare 20 point skill books which I applied immediately.

[Did you get anything good?] Ye Xiu came to ask after he finished opening presents on his own accounts.

[A lot of materials and equipment that I don't need. You want them?] I offered the items up easily. I had no use for them and they would take up space in my storage.

[Of course. Give them to Chen Guo later. What did you get for your ranking rewards?]

[An orange, level 75 mage belt. +10% Debuff Resistance, Magic Defense, and Magic Attack.]

[Your luck isn't bad.]

[Thanks. Your side?] I asked.

[Our luck was good too. Got a lot of useful things.]

[I'm heading off for my match tomorrow.] I bid Ye Xiu goodnight since it was already past midnight. Lack of sleep would definitely affect my performance tomorrow. At least it was a 'home' game in City B against Royal Style. I didn't have to worry about traveling and sleeping in hotels; I slept the best in my own bed.

I looked at level 75 orange accessories I got from stockings before heading to bed with a big smile. Although I was only level 74 currently still, I was still excited by the new equipment. Thinking about the increase in damage, I fell asleep happily.

x

Lady Fortune was a fickle mistress. One second she could shower you with a loving smile, and the next she could completely abandon you. When I woke up on Saturday and prepared for my match tonight, my world was turned upside down by a random person posting on my Weibo.

[Naomi is a despicable woman who abandoned love for career.] User: XxSilencexX213 posted at 12/28 11:34AM. Everything snowballed from that point.

Lin contacted me 30 minutes after this post. Many eNews have already reached out to many employees of Glory Co. to get more gossips. By the time it had came to my attention, it was already seen by thousands of people, commented on over a few hundred times, resposted to many other places, and caught the attention of the whole Glory circle. Fans split into different groups and argued with each other. Some believe the rumor, some didn't, and the rest didn't know what to think.

The post was made without any evidence, and was completely wrong. True or not, this was the internet; once something gets out, it can't be taken back ever again. The damage cannot ever be undone. There would forever be a trace of this event.

As if the whole overseas department had found out, everyone came with me to my match. Tonight I was welcome with boo's and things tossed at me when I entered the stage. I won my match, but I was still booed off the stage.

"Naomi. Do you have anything to say about the rumors online?" The host took the chance to ask after the match.

"Like you said it's only a rumor. What is there more for me to say?" I said a bit coldly before leaving the stage.

x

Oddly enough, I was calm through the whole thing. I was like the eye of a storm. The storm brewing around me didn't affect me. Maybe it was because I knew that rumor wasn't sure. Maybe the pain was too much so I numbed myself. Maybe I had already given up.

"Naomi?" Yu WenZhou checked on me when I stepped off the stage.

"Naomi, are you okay?" Even Huang ShaoTian didn't say too many words tonight when I walked past him.

"Naomi?" Many other voices asked and overlapped with each other, but I walked past them towards the exit.

"I'm okay because I know the truth." I said to everyone, and also to comfort myself at the same time. "I'm okay." I repeated and tried to smile.

I don't know what kind of expression I had on my face, probably something really tragic. Unknowingly, tears of frustration and sadness I have been trying to keep down blurred my vision. One drop leaked out, then the rest just flowed freely down my face. Everyone looked worried at me. Many people moved towards me, but I stepped back to avoid any physical interactions like it would burn me.

"I'm okay." My voice cracked and ran out of the stadium.

No one there was convinced by my words.

Around the same time as the match that night, a reporter from a smaller Glory eNews publication came out and said that from a unname, but trustworthy source, they found out Naomi, the young sculptor behind the Glory figures and owner of the White Robed Witch, had ditched her fiance for overseas job opportunity and fame. Naomi denies the claim during her match. Glory Co. refuse to comment at the moment.

x

People who couldn't come physically, send a message of concern. People could visit all came to see me at my apartment one after another. Lin and everyone in the department came first. Yu WenZhou and Huang ShaoTian rushed over after their match interview. I refused to see any of them; I felt bad but I really couldn't face any of them at the moment.

[How dare you not opening the door when we visit. Do you know how much money I make for one match? Making me waste my time on you. Ungrateful!] Huang ShaoTian complained to me on QQ later.

Wang JieXi and Gao YingJie came the day after on behalf of the whole team. I didn't plan to let them in either, but...

[Shame. I brought a bucket of KFC fried chicken along.] Wang JieXi messaged me when I didn't answer the door.

You could guess how fast that door opened after I saw that message. It wasn't too convenient for me to buy my own food at the moment, especially at busy places like fast food places. The three of us had dinner together and talked for littled. It was nice to see Little Gao again. He was definitely a good hugging buddy substitute for YiFan. The two were around the same height and body size. By end of the night, I had a feeling that Little Gao was looking at his captain with a pleading look to rescue him from my clutches.

x

The following Monday, I received a letter from Glory Co. on my desk saying I was let go immediately due to my negative publicity affecting the company, and I needed to move out of the apartment by Mon, Jan 6th. After Project Desert Dust's pre-order, I would receive my last paycheck from the company, and we would end all ties then. Glory Pro Alliance also notified me that my appearance at All-Star Weekend was cancelled, and the rest of the invitation matches were on hold until further notice; a.k.a cancelled.

I turned in my company phone and packed up the little belongs I had accrued at work in a cardbox and left with the termination letter in hand. Everyone at the small office, along with YueHua, bought me a cake and a personal Iphone on my last day.

"This is from all of us." YueHua handed me the boxed phone. "We already put our contact in there for you."

"You did good work here." Sam said as he took a bite into the Tiramisu cake. The bitterness of the strong coffee in the cake reflected everyone's current mood.

"This is so unfair." Jin voiced his thought.

"Good luck." Aiko added.

"Keep in touch." Lin let out a deep sigh.

"Contact me if you ever need beauty tips." YueHua tried to smile in the tough times.

"When the truth comes out, everyone will regret it." Kazumi was the only one in the group knew my story. I could tell the way she was acting, she was mad for me. She glared at her fork like she could bend it with her mind if she wanted to.

After eating cake, I bid everyone goodbye and left with my box of things. I walked down the same hallway of the company one final time. When I was leaving, I couldn't help but to feel sad that I would never return here again.

x

New post on Naomi's Weibo: [I have left Glory Co. Thank you all for your support for the past year.] 12/30 11:11PM

x

Naomi's Weibo has been deactivated on 12/30 11:25PM.

* * *

To Deer-Silence: I wish YiFan would play cupid for Naomi, would make things easier for me to write in the future.

To Guest: Sorry I'm still undecided...I'd like to join the betting pool too when it happens!

To linear salo: There is a fine line between friendship and rivals. Or I think that's how that goes.

To Rosy Fire: Welcome back to my story! So lovely to hear from you again. Thank you so much for taking the time for reading and reviewing all the past chapters! Some of those reviews really cracked me up and made my day :)


	50. Figuring Things Out

A/N: Ahahaha. I couldn't leave you guys hanging for too long from last chapter. That and I have been able to write ahead a little more recently so I can afford to update twice this week.

There was an small edit made to the last chapter for because a reader pointed out a plot hole.

To clarify things for people who maybe read it before I made the edit, the White Robed Witched is still only level 74 at the end of last chapter. I just took out the part where Naomi was able to equip the new level 75 gears. No other changes were made. Sorry for the inconsistency. Oops on my part.

* * *

One week, that was the time frame the company gave me to move out. One week was all I had to pack up, find a new place, and move out. Since things ended badly between the company and I, they would not help with any part of the moving out.

The only good thing about the parting was the White Robed Witch no longer could be used commercially by the company. Glory Co. tried to take my account through legal means because the White Robed Witch still had very high commercial value. She was almost like a moscot for Glory for the last six months. But, Glory Co. failed. Due to the strict way the contract was reworded by Lin previously, she was free and safe with me. Thank you Lin! I really owed him big time.

Monday afternoon, I sorted out the things in my work box I brought home and in apartment. What to keep, what can be given away, and what to put in the garbage.

"This isn't mine?" I found a white envelope that I wasn't mine when I dug through my work box. On closer inspection, it was a letter addressed to me. A letter and a metal key fell out when I opened to the paper sleeve.

[Naomi:

Use this whenever you feel like you need to get away for awhile. The address for the key is #### xxxxxxxxxxx Tokyo, Japan.

Kazumi]

I smiled at the letter and the key. Kazumi was really thoughtful at times. I stored away the key and letter in a safe spot and concentrated the current problems. What to do and where to live after this week.

x

"Are you okay?" Everyone in my life seemed to wanted to know.

"Yea." I told them all halfheartedly.

My parents called and said I could go back to the state and live with them. My Aunty also called to tell me that I could move in with them until I get things figured out. I could also head to Japan like Kazumi had suggested, and study under a master for while.

They were all good suggestions. Going to Japan for a while appealed to me. I always wanted to vacation in Japan. To eat, to study all the figures in a second hand shop, and to buy some art book of my favorite artists. But at the same time, Japan wasn't an option currently with all my stuff. Shipping everything across the sea would cost a small fortune itself.

No one knew how long it would take for the hate to die down. But as of right now, the online rumors pretty much ended my career as an artist. Who would dare hire a burning potato like me right now with so much bad publicity surrounding me. Career change might not be a bad idea right now either. Sure I would have to admit to my parents about choosing art was a bad life choice and give an earful from my parents, but they would get over it, eventually.

I cleaned, packed, and taped up boxes while I thought about my next steps. For once, I was glad that a lot of my things were still sitting in boxes from the move a year ago. I haven't gotten anything new except the computer chair, computer, monitor, and computer accessories. Everything else in the apartment was company owned and furnished. I let a long sigh as I thought about everything that had happened in the last year. It had been a bittersweet year with filled with all sorts of memories.

x

After packing until sundown, I decided to have a microwave dinner and log into Facebook and Gmail. I wanted to see what my friend circle in the States knew of the situation. It seemed like my news here had reached my friends in the states. Everyone was looking into the situation for me on the States side, but no one knew who started the rumor currently.

[Some of us had contacted the eNews and ripped them a new one for false reporting. But then they reused our words create more drama. Ugh, it's a good thing you didn't come out and say anything. Can you imagine how they would twist your words to make more news?] My good friend Megan vented her frustration on her side to me. [We will help to find the culprit on our side and try to keep it down low around your parents.]

[Thanks. Keep me updated on how it goes. I owe you a drink when I visit the states sometimes.]

[Girl, you owe me a lot of drinks by now.]

[Sure. Just keep it all on a tab for me.]

[Will do. Don't be surprised by your final bill though. Take care of yourself.]

[Thanks.] Megan and I ended our chat.

I logged off my American accounts and logged into QQ. I was bombarded with new messages in various window. Oops, I forgot to log in under invisible mode. Too late to hide now.

[Hi.] I greeted all the pro players back simply in the group chat.

[Is the news true?]

[Did you leave Glory Co. because the news is true?]

[What will happen to the Glory Figure Project?]

Questions flooded the chat one after another when I sent a greeting.

[No. The news isn't true. I had to leave because I was negatively affecting the company image. The Projects will be taken over by a new artist sooner or later.]

Sympathetic responses came one after another.

[Will we see you again?] Little Lu was the first to come out to ask.

[I don't know. I'm going to look for an opportunity. It might not be with Glory, but I'm sure there will be one.] I responded and added. [So should I leave the group now?]

[Let's vote. Those who want to kick her out type 1.] Ye Xiu typed in the chat.

I was moved. There were many people who greeted the old god, but no one typed 1. This was how all the pro players showed their support for me.

x

[Well said. You want to come to Happy for the time being? We can pick you up when we go to City B for All-Star Weekend.] Ye Xiu messaged me in private shortly after he posted in the group chat.

[Didn't take you to be the type to attend if you didn't have to.] I remembered back to almost a year ago. Ye Xiu pretty much hid in the shadows the whole time.

[We got free plane tickets. I will ask if Litte Lou would pay for your ticket too.] Ye Xiu suggested shamelessly.

[Don't bother! I can get my own ticket.] I typed back quickly.

[But you are jobless now.] He reasoned.

[I can still afford one plane ticket!] I was only recently jobless, but he made me seem homeless! I wanted to face plant into the keyboard repeatedly for how shameless and frugal he was being.

[Chen Guo said you can send your stuff over to the apartment in advance. Here is the address.]

[Tell her thanks. I appreciate all you guy's help.]

[She says no problem at all. She is sitting right here by the way.]

[Sis, I heard you are going to come here soon?] YiFan messaged me immediately after I made plans with Ye Xiu.

x

[Yes. Think I'm going to take a break and start over in City H too. It will be nice to be able to cheer you guys on in person too.]

[I will help set your things up before you arrive.]

[Thanks. That will help me out a lot.]

x

Sometimes Tuesday, I finished sorting and packing up my life. I separated my stuff that I would ship to my parents for storage in the states, a few things as gifts for my aunt's, and other things I would probably need in City H. Lin borrowed AnChen's shop van after work and helped me bring all the boxes to the postal office addressed to various places.

I paid a hefty mailing fee to ship things EMS overseas with tracking and insurance. I had a lot of limited edition figures being shipped; I wasn't going to risk anything happening to them. For the rest of stuff, I shipped 2 day express with tracking to City Y and City H. On Thursday, I got a message from YiFan's and Aunty's side that all my boxes had arrived safely. Lou GanNing also messaged me Thursday night to invite me the All-Star Weekend. I kindly rejected the offer to go to the event, but agreed to meet up with his team and Ye Xiu sometimes outside of the event. There was just still too much heat on me right now, so I rather not be recognized in public by fans at an huge event like that.

x

Friday night, Lou GuanNing had send me the address to a restaurant nearby Tiny Herb's stadium, saying everyone will be meeting there after tonight's event to chat and enjoy a night snack. I refused the invitation because I already had dinner and drinking plans with all of mine ex-co workers, maybe for the last time together. Lou GuanNing understood and didn't further persuade me otherwise.

"I'm soooo mad for you, Naomi!" Sam started to slurred his words after downing a few consecutive shots.

"Don't drink so much." I tried to take away Sam's glass, but he kept it out of my reach.

"But I'm mad. We are all." Sam spoke for everyone and nods came from around the table.

"They already found a replacement for you." Aiko frowned.

"He will also be coming from the American branch. Fresh out of school and the company wants him to take on Project Trouble Rain already. I'm a bit worried." Lin added.

"He got no experience. His art is boring." Jin agreed with Lin.

"Keep on open mind. Don't pick on the new guy who hasn't arrived yet. He could be super talented. We were all green once." I tried to lighten the mood and stand up for a fellow artist.

"I was never green." Kazumi denied with a humph by my side.

"Mhm, of course Miss Perfect." I said sarcastically. Kazumi and I clanked shot glasses and took a sip. Yum. Grilled meat and alcohol were the perfect match.

The rest of the night, the six of us ate, drank, and just enjoyed each other's company.

"To getting drunk tonight (不醉不归) (1)!" The six of cheered.

x

By end of the night, some of us were drunker than other. Kazumi and I were the only somewhat sober ones left.

"Have you thought about it?" Kazumi asked as she nursed her drink.

"About what?"

"Going to Japan. I can introduce you to some of your sculptor idols I know personally if you want to study under their wings for a bit. They all had good impression of you at the last WonFest."

"Thanks. I think I'm okay for now." I flashed the older woman a sincere smile and sipped my own drink. Kazumi returned my smile but didn't push anymore because she knew I was strong enough to push through block in the road and was going to be just fine.

Our beautiful shared moment was short lived. Sam, who had fallen asleep at the table after drinking too much, suddenly woke up with renewed energy.

"Let's get everyone home!" He exclaimed like a responsible leader suddenly, scaring the crap out of Kazumi and I in the process. I had to calm Kazumi down because she looked like she wanted to knock the guy out again with the glass in her hand.

"You okay, Sam? You had a lot to drink." I asked for both Kazumi and I because Kazumi went back playing mute.

"It wasn't that much! Ahaha." He tried to prove himself by standing up and walking towards the excite. But he promptly stumbles in his steps. Kazumi and I jumped up from our seats to steady the tall American man. "Ahaha. I'm fine."

I went home after I saw everyone else off from the restaurant. Kazumi woke up Jin to get his girlfriend home. Sam tossed one of Lin's arms over his shoulder and lugged him into a cab with him. I worried that if everyone would get home safely. Then again, this wasn't the first time this had happened either. After watching everyone take off, I took a taxi back to my apartment too.

[God Ye's group is coming to tour our club tomorrow, would you like to come as well?] Lou GuanNing messaged me late into the night.

I didn't have any plans the next day, so I responded, [Sure.]

x

Next morning, Lou GuanNing send a luxury sedan to pick me up from my apartment. I met up with Ye Xiu and gang arrived in front of Heavenly Sword's club. Lou GuanNing came out to greet us when we all arrived. I could tell I wasn't the only in awe as we toured the facility. From the news and rumors, it was a fact that Lou GuanNing came from money, I just didn't know how much money until I was standing in front of their club building. I mean the guy build his own Glory stadium!

"You want to hire our XiaoBaiBai here? She is looking for a new job. You can probably hire her for cheap!" Ye Xiu asked shamelessly at point. I couldn't tell if Ye Xiu was being serious or not, but I wanted to cry from the shame! Maybe he was trying to help but I felt like a useless child he need to find a nanny for. Maybe it was my pride talking, but I didn't want to be someone who got a job through personal favors and back doors.

"Ah, I don't think there is a need for us to. I'm sorry." Lou GuanNing apologized my way.

"Don't take it seriously. He is only joking. Hahaha." I quickly tried to laugh it off rather awkwardly.

"I wasn-"

Whatever Ye Xiu was going to say was stopped by my loud slap on his back. If I was taller, I would have aimed for the back of his head. Lou GuanNing looked like his eye might pop out of his head when he saw I hit Glory's current number one god.

"You hit hard." Ye Xiu grimaced.

"Stop talking if you don't want to get hit again." I threatened under my breath with a tightened fist.

"You are so violent nowadays XiaoBaiBao. You are not going to get married this way."

Smack! Glare!

"Ow. Fine,fine. I will stop talking." Ye Xiu said after finally taking a hint. Took him long enough!

x

The in the middle of the tour Lou GuanNing took us to was his practice room. I wondered if Lou GuanNing was a bit too trusting since most club wouldn't easily lead a group of strangers into their sacred training ground like a group of tourists.

Just as we were taking a look around, a person I dared to claim more annoying than Huang ShaoTian barged into the room. From the few words that came out of his mouth in the exchange made me think this guy was a pompous rich asshat.

"Hold on. I will be right back!" The random person left suddenly as he had arrived.

"Who was that?" We all looked to Lou GuanNing after the strange occurrence.

"My childhood friend." Lou GuanNing started to explain and then rest of big five of Heavenly Swords joined the discussion. The overall consensus was he was a bad friend.

"I'm back! Old Lou, are you ready?" When Lou GuanNing's frienemy came back, he started to trash talk again and brought someone in.

From how confident the way the Lou GuanNing's friend talked, he must have found someone really strong. A pro perhaps? I took a curiously peek at the second male who entered the room. He didn't make any eye contact with anyone before settling into the nearest open computer he found and logged in.

x

From my point of view, the person wasn't a pro player of this season or the last. Maybe someone from someone's training camp? No, he looked too old for that. There wasn't any notable features about this guy besides some white bandages wrapped around his left hand.

The pompous ass pay an injured guy to play Glory? Wow, that was just a new low. How despicable. My opinion of Lou GuanNing's friend was dropping fast. Although my opinion of Lou GuanNing wasn't high at the moment either. He actually snuck his account card to Ye Xiu to play against this injured man. Although to be fair, Lou GuanNing couldn't know about the bandages since he already asked Ye Xiu to play for him before the guy entered.

After an high intense battle between berserkers, Ye Xiu lost. Wait, what? Did I heard myself correctly. Ye Xiu lost? Was that right? I couldn't believe it. I looked to Ye Xiu to see his expression. I was a bit disappointed that he just wore his normal uncaring expression like always.

The tall mysterious male who defeated Ye Xiu said some polite words Lou GuanNing's way before yelling at Ye Xiu, "What the f**k! Why are you here?" It looked like they knew each other.

"It's you! No wonder." Ye Xiu acknowledged the other party.

"Ye Qiu!" The male almost growled when he spit out the name with much disdain.

"Sun ZhePing." Ye Xiu said calmly like seeing this person explained everything.

Almost everyone in the room seem to recognize the male after his identity was exposed and became in awe. Only BaoZi, Tang Rou, and I was still lost.

"Eh? Eh? Eh? Who?" I voiced my question and received various looks around the room. Thankfully at this moment someone else in the room said something more outrageous to take the attention off of me.

"Ah! This is the Wicked King Immolation Fist's Supreme Technique, Dragon of the Darkness Flame!" BaoZi suddenly stood up and shouted but was quickly scolded by Chen Guo.

I looked up Glory and Sun ZhePing since I was curious, and no one bothered to explain things to me. Ye Xiu and Sun ZhePing were still talking and nobody wanted to interrupt.

x

Sun ZhePing. Previous captain of Hundred Blossoms. Was the number one berserker in Glory. However due to Excellent Era's suppression in the first three seasons, Hundred Blossoms never won the championship. Then retired many seasons ago due to a serious injury to his left hand. This was the summary of all the information the Baidu gave me. Besides the old articles ranging from seasons 2 and 5, there weren't any new information after that.

While I was looking up information on the old god, the conversations in the room seemed to come to a conclusion too. Lou GuanNing had asked Sun ZhePing to join Heavenly Sword. After some persuasion, the old god agreed.

"Then, for the next half of the season, why not join Happy?" Ye Xiu requested shamelessly. He even used fighting Excellent Era for revenge as bait even though he was the one who caused this man and his team to lose the championship so many times many years ago. Sometimes I wondered myself how I was friends with someone like him.

"Hero, let's go forth together!" Ye Xiu announced dramatically like they were in some kind of adventure RPG game.

"Sign me up." Even more surprisingly, Sun ZhePing agreed easily. The two gods joined hands. Happy was becoming quite the hidden boss in the Challenger League below everyone's noses.

These Glory gods are not normal people, I concluded.

* * *

Extended Ending:

During the rest of the tour at Heavenly Sword, I asked Ye Xiu a question that had been nagging me all day after the unexpected encounter with Sun ZhePing.

"Do you think it hurts when he plays? You know from his injury. It must not be fully healed if he still wears bandages."

"Probably." Ye Xiu shrugged while his eyes and hands were glued to the monitor and keyboard in Heavenly Sword's practice room. Jeez, how obsessed is this guy with Glory? He might die from not being able to play for just one day.

Sun ZhePing went with LouGuanNing somewhere to talk in private about the details about the contract.

"Why does he still play if it hurts him?" I wanted to know the answer to this question. I needed to know. My feelings for Glory was all jumbled up at the moment due to everything that just happened within the last week. Did I still like it? Do I hate it?

"The same reason why anyone plays."

"Which is?" I frown a little at Ye Xiu's unhelpful answer.

"Isn't it obvious already? Why don't you go ask him?" Ye Xiu brushed me off.

x

After Sun ZhePing came back into the room with Lou GuanNing, I went up to the old god and asked if we could speak in private for a little. With nothing to fear from a girl shorter and younger than himself, Sun ZhePing agreed to step somewhere private to talk.

"What's going on?" Lou GuanNing was curious. His eyes followed the two out of the door. It seemed strange that Naomi, who had never met Sun ZhePing before, would ask to talk to the old god in private.

"Heh. Probably love at first sight." Ye Xiu joked lightly. Lou GuanNing, however, seemed to take it seriously and choked on air.

x

Sun ZhePing and I ended up in front of a giant window with a view to the garden below. It was a gorgeous garden. It could be seen that Lou GuanNing spend a lot of time putting all these details to his club building.

"So does it hurt when you play?" I asked about his hand.

"Sometimes. If I play intensively for a long period of time." Sadness and pain flashed through Sun ZhePing's eyes. I could tell this wasn't a pleasant topic for him.

"So why do you still play then? After all these years."

"What are you trying to say? I'm not qualified because my injury?" Pain turned into rage. Sun ZhePing thought I was probably belittling him and glared my way.

"I'm sorry. That's not what I meant at all. I just want to know why you still do something that hurt you?" I explained quickly, trying to quench the fire. I then told him about all the things I was currently going through. "My feelings are all over the place. Glory, the game, fans, and company, have hurt me and had hurt me in the past too. I don't know what to do next. I just thought if I talked to you, I would have my answer too."

x

"Screw what the fans and the company wants." Sun ZhePing silently contemplated something in his head before talking boldly. "Play for your pride, dreams, ambitions, and victory. Play Glory for yourself. Play for your love of Glory. Do you still love the game?"

"Of course." Realization hit me like a ton of bricks. I had felt a bit lost since getting fired from the job and backlash from the fans. I started to believe that I wasn't a good artist; I wasn't good at what I do; I wasn't good at anything. With the help of Sun ZhePing's advice, I seem to finally seem to find my way again.

"Show them what you are made out of." Sun ZhePing let out a smirk before walking away cooly.

There were many easy ways out I could take. I could go back to the states, or Aunty's, or Japan. But if I did that, I would just be running away from my problems and giving up. But I didn't want to give up Glory, especially when I didn't do anything wrong. I felt bitterness but also a burning determination in my heart.

I still wanted to make figures and illustration for the Glory players. Over the past year, I discovered that I really enjoyed meeting and working with everyone from the different teams. Sure there were hard times, but Glory was fun. I loved Glory. I wasn't sure what my next steps were yet, but I was sure this wasn't the last time Glory and fans would see me and my work.

"Hey. Do you remember how to get back to the practice room?" Sun ZhePing come out of nowhere during my internal monologue, startling me.

"Err, which way did we come from? I have a terrible sense of direction too... let me message Lou GuanNing and Ye Xiu." I quickly type a message to the two and hoped we would be rescued soon.

* * *

(1)不醉不归: a more literal meaning would be we are not leaving until we are drunk.

* * *

Thank you for all the positive responses in the last chapter and past chapters!

Honestly when I started writing this story, I wasn't not sure if people would even read this since YeAll! and BL are what's trending (and my writing/grammar sucks a bit). This story is meant to be a bit plain and explore all the joys and difficulties one might face in the real world. So hopefully I'm doing a good job depicting them and making things interesting.

I'm super happy to hear that people are enjoying everything so far. I hope to put out more quality work/plot/chapters in the future. Thank you!


	51. Moving In

Happy official 50th chapter! A more relaxed/fun/silly chapter. Hope you guys like.

* * *

The Monday after the All-Star weekend, I left the company apartment with the rest of my belongs in a carry-on suitcase, backpack, and a moving box. I looked at the apartment from the door. I had restored the room to the state it was in when I first moved in. With one last glance, I shut the door and also this chapter of my life. I turned in my key at the front desk.

[Will you be out soon?] Wang JieXi messaged me.

[Just turned in key. Coming out soon.] I wrote back.

Wang JieXi had come to help send me off as Tiny Herb's team representative. He also came to get the box of things that various his teammates wanted to take off my hands. More of people that I knew from Tiny Herb, like Liu XiaoBie and Gao YingJie, wanted to come too, but Wang JieXi didn't want draw too much attention with a big crowd.

"Let me help with that." Wang JieXi came out of the taxi and helped me with my bags and box when he saw me coming out the front doors. "What is in the suitcase." He asked after he lifted my suitcase into the back of the taxi with a heavy grunt.

"Thanks. Only the essentials."

"Like?" He inquired further.

"Clothings, towels, Eve (1), you know the normal things."

"Right… of course Eve would be in the suitcase."

"I couldn't risk her getting damaged or lost in the mail. She is important to me."

"Very logical." Wang JieXi chuckled lightly.

x

When we arrived at the airport, I had told Wang JieXi to head back to in the Taxi. I didn't want us to be caught by anyone. It would be bad for his image and worse for mine. He debated the pro and cons in his head quickly and agreed to leave without getting out of the car.

"XiaoBaiBai, over here." Ye Xiu waved me over when he saw me enter the airport. In the end, Lou GuanNing insisted on buying my plane ticket so I was on the same plane and the same seating area as Ye Xiu and rest of happy.

"Do you need help carrying the suitcase or backpack?" Sister Chen rushed over to see if I needed help carrying anything. I couldn't help but to glare at Ye Xiu. Shouldn't he be the one to help out since, well, he was a guy and I knew him way longer than Sister Chen. Ye Xiu just seem to averted his eyes from my glare.

"It's not that bad. It's only the essentials I still needed for the last few days. I had shipped most of the things either to the apartment or back to the states." I assured Sister Chen I was fine and the bags weren't too bad. But she still urged BaoZi and Ye Xiu to come and help. I laughed mentally since Ye Xiu was still made to help out in the end.

"What do you consider the essentials?" Ye Xiu got stuck carrying my suitcase and was already complaining about the weight, even though the thing had wheels. How lazy can you get Old Ye?

"Oh just like toothbrush, towels, and a desktop computer."

"Of course you would think to pack a computer in the suitcase."

x

When I arrived at Happy's apartment, I immediately noticed it was a lot different than back in the summer. There were more people living here now, so the apartment had a noticeably livelier atmosphere. Instead of the empty first floor living room here before, there were 12 computers placed in a circle.

I was greeted by some familiar faces and some new ones.

"Sis." YiFan was waiting for me by the door when I arrived. When I saw him, a wave of emotions flooded over me. I ran to hug YiFan, and he hugged me back. There was so many things I wanted to tell him. All the good, all the bad, and all the sufferings. "It's okay now Sis, everything will be okay." He comforted me and rubbed circles on my back.

"Ah, you are here. Are you level 75 yet? Can I take a look at your equipment stats?" Wei Chen interrupted my touching reunion with YiFan. However, he was quickly driven away by a hissing Chen Guo who was yelling something along the line of 'couldn't you read the mood?'

"This is Wu Chen. He will be taking care of Happy's guild in the future. Wu Chen, this is Naomi. She will be helping out with wild bosses. Add her to the guild when you have a chance. " Ye Xiu introduced one of the new faces. "It should be okay now since your contract is over with Glory Co., right?" He added an afterthought.

"Yes, there won't be any issues. I'm just a normal player now." I confirmed there was no more legal contract that bind the White Robed Witch and I to the gaming company.

"Nice to meet you." Wu Chen stepped forward and greeted me.

"Please take care of me in the near future." Wu Chen and I shook hands. I had a good impression of him. He seemed like a reliable and the most normal person in the group so far.

"That's Mo Fan. You know him better as Deception." Ye Xiu pointed to another new face. But this person didn't come over, he stayed perfectly seated in front of his computer and seemed to ignore everything around him.

"You managed to convince him to join your team finally?" Not going to lie, I half expected to see this guy chained to the computer for some reason.

"It took a while, but yea."

"Did you use blackmail?"

"Do I seem like the type?" Ye Xiu acted all innocent like.

"Very much so." I was surprised this guy actually stayed by his free will considering how Ye Xiu pretty much hunt him down like prey until he couldn't continue his joy of high quality scrap picking anymore.

"We also have two college students name An WenYi and Lou Ji on our team. They are currently at school and won't be here until winter break starts." Ye Xiu decided not to comment on my remark and continued his team introduction without missing a beat.

"You are not leading innocent college student down some dark path right?" I eyed Ye Xiu suspiciously.

"What have I ever done to cause you so much distrust?" Ye Xiu let out a long sigh.

"Because you are a shameless god."

"Ahaha. That is so true!" Wei Chen crackled in the background like he heard the best joke in the whole world.

x

"Hi I'm Naomi. We met a few times in game." I went over to lone wolf of the team and made an attempt to be friendly. Despite how antisocial Mo Fan was, he was still a teammate that I will be needing to rely on in-game. I didn't want us to start off on the wrong foot.

"Mo Fan." Mo Fan said his name and glance unimpressed my way before returning to Glory. I had held out a hand for him to shake, but the social cue was completely ignored.

"Don't mind him. He is just like this." Ye Xiu came over resolve the awkward interaction.

"Oh. Well, sorry about killing you so many times in game." I apologized even though it was a long time ago; I still felt bad about killing him every time I saw him.

"Which character?" Mo Fan seemed to take interest and stopped whatever he was doing on the computer.

"I am the White Robed Witch."

"White Robed Witch!" Mo Fan suddenly gasped and studied me under an intense scrutiny look.

This must have been a bit out of his character because Ye Xiu even seem surprised at the reaction. Mo Fan and I held eye contact for a brief while. I couldn't tell what was the strange guy was thinking, but I could see his stare turning icier by the second. In the end, his lips turns into a slight frown and went back to his game. I turned to Ye Xiu for an explanation, but Ye Xiu only shrugged back because he had no idea what just happened either.

x

After the introductions, YiFan helped me carry my luggage into his room. I was going to crash there for a few days until Sister Chen figure out a more permanent living situation here for me. YiFan already had An WenYi as his roommate. But, it was okay for me to stay in there for now because he won't be back again until after Lunar New Years for winter break.

"We all live at the apartment and do everything here now. We practice here instead of the room above the Internet Cafe." YiFan gave me a quick breakdown of everything that had changed since the last time I was here. I listened to his explanations and stories as we walked. I could tell YiFan was happy here; I was really glad.

When I entered the room, half of the room was fairly empty. It looks like An WenYi took most of his belongs with him when he wasn't at Happy. Even the mattress was bare without any sheets or pillows. That was fine though. I wouldn't want to used a stranger's things anyways.

"Sorry this isn't much. We have your things in a storage room downstairs because we don't know where to set them up at yet. Sister Chen will see if Mo Fan and Wu Chen could room together so you can have your own room." YiFan scratched his cheek. He was a bit embarrassed by how unfurnished everything in the room was.

"No. This is enough for now. I feel bad troubling everyone here." I shook my head. I popped open my suitcase and started to pull out my own sheets, pillow, and beddings.

"You had your computer in there? No wonder it was so heavy!" YiFan exclaimed.

"It is too important to ship." I said while making the bed. Was it that surprising to pack a computer in a suitcase?

The bed looked terrible after I finished making it. This was mainly due to the fact that I had to make queen size beddings work on a twin size bed. I hoped Ye Xiu and Chen Guo weren't too strict with neatness in the rooms because the bed would definitely not be passable.

"Are you all settled in yet XiaoBaiBai? Come and help with a wild boss!" Ye Xiu yelled from downstairs.

x

In the weeks before Lunar New Years, I practiced the daily practice routines and went wild boss hunting on my side accounts as part of Happy. The online drama from the rumor still hadn't completely die down yet, To avoid backlash from the online players, I avoided using the White Robed Witch in game since I left Glory Co.

After Ye Xiu found out I had an Elementalist side account, he insisted that I should level it to level 75 so he could sign me up for the offline matches as Happy's substitute player.

"You know I can't due to the contract." I refused immediately.

"The contract said only said the White Robed Witch can't enter, but they never mentioned you couldn't as a player. Enter with your Elementalist side account." He found the loophole in my argument immediately. Drat.

"Why?" I then asked him. "You already have enough good players. I still have to concentrate on my future."

"Just in case people get sick. You don't have anything better to do for the time being, so help me out."

"How many people do you expect to be sick at once that you would need me to fill in?" I gave him a deadpan look.

"You never know if half of the team get food poisoning or something." Ye Xiu shrugged casually.

"You don't plan to do something to your own team, right?" I almost didn't dare to ask.

"Do I seem like the type?"

"Yes. Don't bother me about it anymore. I have to concentrate on my own things." I gave Ye Xiu two middle fingers.

x

During these few weeks, Chen Guo also failed to convince Mo Fan and Wu Chen to move into one room. The noncooperative party was of course Mo Fan. He would completely ignore Chen Guo anytime she tried to speak to him. He would then go back to his room and lock the doors like a moody teenager.

"Maybe we can see if Little An will consider room with Wu Chen when he is back." Chen Guo let out a long sigh. She came to me to vent a little after Mo Fan gave her another cold shoulder today when she tried to subtly mention the topic to him again.

"It's alright. I want YiFan to experience having a male roommate close to his age. He must be a bit embarrassed to be stuck rooming with his older sister." I comforted Chen Guo when she came to me to complain about Mo Fan, who she considered not pulling his weight in the team.

"I'm not embarrassed at all! Where would you go then?" YiFan spoke up when he heard me.

"If Mo Fan doesn't want to move out, then I will just have to move in with either him or Wu Chen."

"Absolutely not!" YiFan stood up and yelled suddenly. Everyone currently in the room all looked at him. Under so many stares, YiFan turned beet red and sank back into his seat awkwardly.

"I agree with Little Qiao. A single female and a single male (孤男寡女) in the same room is a bit…" Chen Guo didn't know how to continue with her words either. She seem to turn slightly red at whatever she was thinking.

"They don't seem like bad guys. I'm not too worried." I was unconcerned by whatever Chen Guo was worried about. "Hey Wu Chen! Mo Fan! You guys don't sleep nude and won't do anything weird to me if we roomed together right?"

Wu Chen choked on air immediately. Mo Fan's hands froze abruptly over his keyboard and looked at me with widened eyes like a frightened rabbit.

"Cohabitation is a bit too westernized for me." Wu Chen blushed heavily after he learned how to breath again.

"Oh. I guess in that case I will room with Mo Fan then since he doesn't object." I took advantage of Mo Fan's silence.

"..." Mo Fan had a displeased look on his face. His eyebrows knitted together and glared my way.

"If you got something to say, say it." I pushed.

"Only if you win." He challenged.

"You don't think I can beat you?" Was he looking down on me?

"You always had help."

What he said was reasonable. Most of the time I faced him, I always brought healers to top my health off. I never actually did face him 1 on 1 in a fair battle. Now he was looking down on me, so there is only one way to settle this grudge.

"Let's PK." It was decided.

x

"I guess it's my loss." I stretched after the long match. It was a game of cat and mouse. But in the end, I got impatient and lost to Mo Fan's sneakiness. "I'm a good roommate. Are you sure you don't want to room together? You are missing out!"

"..." Mo Fan got up and went to his room without saying a word.

"But where should we put you?" Chen Guo felt frustrated at the problem.

"Sister Chen. Do you think I can live at the place above the internet cafe?" I asked.

"You want to live there?"

"That space should be free since all of you moved here right?"

"It is, but you would have to walk here everyday. Aren't you afraid being recognized in the streets?"

"My roots are growing out a bit. With a new hairstyle and some winter gears, I think I will be fine."

"You could still live with me until after New Year break?" YiFan suggested.

"I know you love me at all, but you can't live with your bestest older sister forever. It would be a problem when you have a girlfriend, get married, and have kids."

"Sis!" YiFan flushed red at my teasing.

x

Two days before Lunar New Year, YiFan and I went to City Y together to celebrate the holiday season at Aunty's again. But this year, my parents flew in for the occasion and to see me. I wish they flew my puppies and cat in too, but that would require too much money and paperwork for just a week. So they had dropped off the pets off at my friend Megan's before coming. I made sure Megan send me tons of pictures of my babies daily. Together, the two families had a nice, but also very cramped, Lunar New Year break together.

* * *

Chapter 50.5

Lunar New Year extra chapter CYOA style! (Kinda)

When YiFan and I arrived at the airport in City Y, my dad waited by the arrival terminal while uncle was keeping the car warm for us outside.

"How have you been?" My dad greeted me in the same casually way he always had done when I visited home. I was glad that nothing had changed even though I had been away from home for over a year.

"Dad…" My nose tingled and my eyes watered. I dropped all my luggage and ran crying to my dad.

"My daughter have endured a lot of hardship." My dad patted me on my back rather awkwardly but let me cry on his shoulder. He was a good father, but he wasn't the best at comforting other people, including my mom and myself. He wasn't good at expressing his own frustration and sadness either. He looked calm right now, but I knew deep down he was brokenhearted to see his forever little princess so sad. "Don't cry now."

"En." I sniffled and wiped my tears away after a while.

"YiFan has really grown. You were only a toddler the last time I saw you." My dad then went to greet YiFan next.

"Hi Uncle. Have you been well?" YiFan dragged my luggage with his towards my dad and I.

"Polite as always. Let me help with those." My dad praised. He quickly grabbed the suitcases from YiFan and started walking towards the exit. "Your dad is waiting with the car by the curb, let's hurry."

x

When we arrived at the apartment, my mom and Aunty already had a feast waiting on the dining table. Giant prawns, lobster, salmon, and other seafood dishes covered the table. It was all my favorite seafood dishes.

"Perfect timing. The rice just finished cooking. Put the luggage by the sofa, let's all eat first." Aunty quickly rushed everyone to wash their hands and sit at the table.

"Eat more. You have gotten skinny." My mom said as she put a grilled squid leg in my bowl.

"The prawn is your favorite too." My dad put a steamed prawn in my bowl.

Uncle, Aunty, and YiFan also put some of my favorite items in my rice bowl. This was a sign of their worry and unconditional love. A warm feeling enveloped me. I started sobbing as I ate each of the items. Being surrounded by a loving family was a blessing that too many people, including myself, took granted for.

x

After the first day in City Y for Lunar New Years, everything returned to normal.

"I can't believe how I give a birth to a daughter like you? What's up with this unkempt appearance? When I was your age…" My mom nagged while she shortened my hair with a few swift cuts of a sharp sisszor. She disapproved of my hair dye maintenance and lack of daily makeup use. She then went on a monologue about her younger days and all the suitors that chased after her like usual.

To welcome the New Year and stepping into a new chapter into my life, I decided to get a haircut. There were also other reasons for this decision like my hair was getting too long.

The most important one was making myself look less recognizable in public. This was why my mom was cutting and dyeing my hair back to its original black color so I looked more plain.

"How's the boyfriend progress going. Have you meet anyone new yet in the last year?" This topic was unavoidable whenever we talked.

"I had been busy with work and haven't had time meet anyone yet. I'm not really looking at the moment. Stop asking please." I frowned.

"You must have met some guys in the last year. You can't tell me that you haven't met one male during your time here. Didn't you work in a big company? Are you at the age that you have a secret boyfriend that you don't want mom and dad to find out? You know we won't stop you if you want to date now. We just want you to date! We want grandbabies soon!"

"I already got you three fur babies."

"Che. Pets will forever be pets. How can they compare to a real man?" My mom clicked her tongue.

"Pets are better companion than guys most of the times." I refuted. I hated how I was stuck in the bathroom with my mom at this moment as she started to brush in the dye into my hair.

Thinking back, I did meet a lot of males in the last year. Ye Xiu, Old Man Han, Wang JieXi, Huang ShaoTian and Yu WenZhou were the few I recall. Maybe I should ask one of them to be my pretend boyfriend in a video chat so my parents would stop bothering me about it. Renting a boyfriend for the holidays wasn't that rare in China afterall. I could just tell them when they get back to the states that we broke up or something.

x

Who to ask though?

* * *

[Selected] Ye Xiu

x

Ye Xiu was shameless, but strangely reliable at times. So why not? I quickly texted Ye Xiu and went over a general plan with him.

"Mom. Look I have a boyfriend." I said as I started up the video chat.

"Ah. Hi." A ragged looking Ye Xiu said with a cigarette between his lips.

"...He is your boyfriend?" My mom asked skeptically as she quickly formed her opinions about Ye Xiu already.

"Hm. Yes. He might look like that, but he is actually very reliable!" I defended immediately.

"That's how you think of me? Aw, thanks." Ye Xiu said something very not helpful at the moment.

"This child's dad! Get in here and look at your daughter's boyfriend!" My mom yelled.

…

In the end, Ye Xiu rubbed my parents the wrong way almost immediately. In their eyes, he was a poor man who can barely support his own lifestyle and who wouldn't able to responsibility for their precious daughter.

They told us to break up immediately or they would drag my butt back to the state with them after Chinese New Years.

* * *

[Selected] Han WenQing

x

Old Man Han was slightly scary looking but was mature. Maybe my parents will like him. I quickly texted Old Han and went over a general plan with him.

"Mom. Look I have a boyfriend." I said as I started up the video chat.

"Hello Aunty." Old Man greeted my mom politely with a slight head bow.

"Ah hello!" My mom awkwardly bowed back and quickly whispered to me rather unsure. "...He is your boyfriend?"

"Hm. Yes. He might look like that, but he is very kind heart and sweet!" I defended immediately.

Old Man Han didn't say anything, but hide the bottom of his face in his hand and looked away shyly.

"This child's dad! Get in here and look at your daughter's boyfriend!" My mom yelled.

…

In the end, Old Man's thuggish looks scared my parents to death. My parents thought I was mixed up with the wrong sorts of people and was dragged to the dark side of society. They wanted me to pack up my bags and head back to the states with them immediately.

* * *

[Selected] Huang ShaoTian

x

Huang ShaoTian was a bit annoying, but had his own charms too. I quickly texted Huang ShaoTian and went over a general plan with him.

"Mom. Look I have a boyfriend." I said as I started up the video chat.

"Hello! Hello! Hello! Let me introduce myself. I'm the number one swordsman, Huang ShaoTian. Nice to meet you Aunty! How do you do? How are you liking China so far? Is it cold where you are? I live more south, it's not as cold here. I wish there was more snow on the ground. You know to add to the atmosphere." Huang ShaoTian rambled on and on.

"...He is your boyfriend?" My mom asked rather annoyed when Huang ShaoTian pretty much carried the conversation on by himself.

"Hm. Yes. He might talk a lot, but he is rather cute like a monkey, right?" I defended.

"This child's dad! Get in here and look at your daughter's boyfriend!" My mom yelled.

…

In the end, Huang ShaoTian annoyed my parents to death with his constant chattering. My parents had to hang up the call not even 2 minutes later because they couldn't stand the sound of his voice anymore and told me break up with him immediately.

* * *

[Selected] Wang JieXi

x

Wang JieXi and I knew each other decently well after both lived in City B for a while. I quickly texted Wang JieXi and went over a general plan with him.

"Mom. Look I have a boyfriend." I said as I started up the video chat.

"Hello Aunty. It's nice to meet you." Wang JieXi greeted formally.

"...He is your boyfriend?" My mom asked a bit disappointed by Wang JieXi's appearance.

"Hm. Yes. He might look like that, but he is very responsible and have a lot of talent!" I defended immediately.

"This child's dad! Get in here and look at your daughter's boyfriend!" My mom yelled.

…

In the end, my parent couldn't find anything wrong with Wang JieXi besides his two different size eyes.

"Are you really sure about the guy? Think about your future child! What if he or she is born with eyes like his?" My parents nagged me for the rest of Lunar New Year break until I agreed to break up with him.

* * *

[Selected] Yu WenZhou

x

Yu WenZhou probably was the most normal person I could think among all the other opinions. I quickly texted Yu WenZhou and went over a general plan with him.

"Mom. Look I have a boyfriend." I said as I started up the video chat.

"Hello Aunty. It's nice to meet you." Yu WenZhou greeted respectfully.

"He is your boyfriend?" My mom asked rather surprised. "This child's dad! Get in here and look at your daughter's boyfriend!" My mom yelled excitedly.

…

In the end, my parents had a nice long chat with Yu WenZhou. Yu WenZhou kept all his facts straight and didn't let anything slip. My parents were rather happy with my 'boyfriend' besides the fact that he played video game for a living. They worried about the stability of the job, but changed their views immediately after finding out how much he made in a year. They immediately started looking for lucky dates for weddings.

* * *

(1) Eve is the gaming desktop tower built and given to her by Tiny Herb from the chapter 20.

A/N: The extra chapter is written purely for humor. It doesn't hint anything about final pairing. Final pairing is still undecided for the most part.

As for an update of final pairing. It's still in the works. I think I know what I want, but will see when we get there. The plot is actually changing/evolving as I keep on writing. It has taken a life of it's own now. It have already turned into something much different than the rough overall plot I had original planned out. There was a dry cut pairing I was going for originally, but that have changed after 10 chapter in lol.


	52. When the Truth Comes Out

Following Lunar New Years, my parents went back to the states. YiFan and I also returned to City H shortly after their departure. YiFan went to live with the rest of the team at the apartment, and I moved into Chen Guo's room. Sister Chen had cleaned out her room on the second floor of her internet cafe for me. She also had my boxes moved here and my computer set up during the time I was gone.

"Are you sure it will be safe for you to walk back and forth? What if someone recognize you?" Chen Guo asked worriedly as she came over and helped me unpack.

"I will be fine. I looked different enough that Ye Xiu thought I looked like YiFan's mom." I frowned as I thought back to Ye Xiu's reaction to my hair cut.

When I dropped YiFan at the apartment, Ye Xiu became flustered. He thought YiFan's mom had come for a surprise visit. He made a big fuss at the apartment and had everyone there to come downstairs to greet me. He even called Chen Guo over to welcome me with tea and snacks. I had to wonder just how many night did he stay up late to play Glory and how much did he smoke over the Lunar New Year break to become this delusional.

Anyways, once everyone in the apartment lined up to greet me, he got a swift punch in the gut in front of everyone. Good thing I didn't have an ounce of muscle on me or that punch would have been actually painful. Then again, the guy plays video game all day in front of the computer and probably didn't have an ounce of muscle on him either, so the punch could have hurt. I would be happy if it did hurt him. The only other good thing that came out of that mess was I got to formally meet YiFan's roommate An WenYi, and the other college student Luo Ji.

x

"Don't listen to that guy. I think your haircut and hair color makes you look more mature, not older." Chen Guo comforted me later when she took me to my new living space.

"Sister Chen, do you think I can set up a drawing or sculpting area somewhere here?" I asked after examining the loft layout.

"I will ask Tang Rou if she could move some of her things aside in her room for you." Chen Guo agreed easily. "What do you plan to do?"

"I will do self study. Practice new drawing and sculpting techniques. I plan to make self improvements and then make a comeback as a sculptor with a detailed figure for the White Robed Witch. What do you think?" I asked Chen Guo for her thought on my plan.

"I think that will be awesome! Do you think you could draw Chasing Haze, if you have a free moment or need a character to practice on." Chen Guo asked shyly.

"Haha. Of course Sister Chen, I will see what I can do."

x

Truth always comes out one way or another. However, sometimes it disguise itself in the most unexpected ways from the most unexpected people. No one knew who started the rumor, but a way to stop it showed itself. Shortly after I returned to City H with YiFan from Lunar New Year break, I received messages from my ex offering his help.

Over the past year, it seemed like what he did to me, happened to him. His fiance cheated on him with someone better. Through that experience, he had the chance to be in my shoes and experienced all the pain and shame he had caused me.

He said he had felt guilty (愧疚) for everything that had happened. He didn't know who had spread the rumor either, but he agreed to come out publicly to at least to clear it up. In the end, to save him some face, we all agreed that we would tell the press that it was a mutual break up unrelated to the job offer and things ended on good terms.

"Sister Chen, do you know any trustworthy reporter to do an exclusive scoop?" I asked Chen Guo once I got my story straight with the other two.

"There is Little Chang, why do you ask?" Chen Guo asked curiously.

"Could you please call him to see if he would be interested in getting an exclusive interview with my ex and I."

"Not bad. When they hear from the main characters from the rumor, there will be nothing left to talk about." Ye Xiu approved this tacit move when he heard from Chen Guo about my plan.

x

Chen Guo quickly got in touch with Chang Xian, the young eNew reporter in City H. Although this wasn't exactly big news in the Glory, the reporter still jumped at the chance to get an exclusive interview with me. From what I heard from Chen Guo, he was a fan of my work and was really excited to meet the previous sculptor behind the popular Glory figures. He was also part of the fan community that didn't believe the rumor, so he wanted to help out in any way he could.

During a time convenient, Little Chang and I sat down in the empty training room above the internet cafe the team no longer used. We also skyped my ex to talk about the situation and rumor of course. In the next issue of Esport Home, the interview was posted in a small corner of the second page with an old happy picture of my ex and I taken shortly after his proposal.

[The rumor that destroyed the young sculptor career turned out to be completely false. After talking to both Naomi and her ex-fiancé, Fred, it became apparent that the two parties had a natural break due to differences in personality and interest after being engaged. Both party were on good terms with each other and have no idea who could maliciously made up this rumor. To read the full interview turn to page 6.] The blurb on page 2 of the paper read.

Shortly after this article, more related article came out. One news station that had an oversea counterpart was able to find the culprit who started the whole rumor. It turned out the super reliable unnamed source was a bartender of a bar Fred often frequently in the states.

That same person also happened to be the cousin of the author of the original article that wrecked my reputation. The bartender only claimed to have misheard the information about the breakup when he overhead fred and his other friends talking about me one night.

After being dumped, Fred's friends took him out to vent over things. After a few rounds of beers, someone, most likely drunk, brought me into the conversation. I could only assume how it all went from there. Fred had a habit of bad mouthing everyone when he drank too much. But to write a reporter based on a drunk's words.

'It was all an misunderstand', the bartender told the media and my friends when cornered. As if that could fix anything. The bartender didn't even lose his job since this wasn't big news in the states. Ah, the unfairness in life.

x

After all the rumors were resolved, the original eNews website and author got a lot of flames from the fans and community. The small news site had reached out to me privately to discuss a settlement. They were worried that I would sue them for my ruining public image. I would probably would have gotten more money if I did threaten to sue, but I just wanted things to end as quickly as possible. So I settled for 2.5 million RMB and a public apology from the author.

All the hate then turned into regret. The fans regretted believing the rumor so fast and regretted that I had left Glory Co. Some started forums to gather signatures to request the Glory Pro Alliance to restart the invitational matches. Some even demanded Glory Co to rehire me. But everything had already happened, it was too late for that now.

A new sculptor name Qi Yan had replacement me the day after I left the company. He was now put in charge of the Glory figure projects and already finished the art concept for Project Troubling Rain on his company weibo shortly after Lunar New Years break. Even though I left the company, you can't blame me for being curious about who they put to fill my shoes. I also kept in touch with Lin and others from the department just to chat about what's new.

Qi Yan's art style was very different than mine, but that was to be expected due to having a different artist on board. From what I could tell, there was nothing wrong with his design; it was just different. All the previous projects under my design all had dynamic designs to highlight the prowess of the different characters. His design was more static. There was nothing wrong with a static design since it was more or less an artist's preference. Although to some people, a static figure pose might be less interesting visually.

The post for Project Trouble Rain was also badly timed. By pure coincidence, my interview and his post were came out only a few days apart of each other. Many fans posted mean things like [This is trash] or [We want Naomi's designs] on his weibo. I felt bad for the guy. Everything was outside of his control, and my leaving wasn't his fault. He didn't deserve a lot of the mean comments from the fans. Under a new no-name weibo account I made to continue post artwork online, I typed a few words of encouragement to him. [Looks good! Excited to see the final figure.]

x

The chairman of the Glory Pro Alliance, Feng XianJun, personally reach out to see if I would continue my guest appearances. They even offered to increase my appearance fee to 40k RMB per appearance, and they would cover all plane and hotel expenses on top of that.

Of course, Ye Xiu told me to do it, and even went far as telling me that I have been freeloading for the past month. Ugh, the guy was being unbearably irritating. He makes it seem like I wasn't helping out with wild bosses and materials at all.

I agreed to return to the stage as a guest starting on Feb 15th. To make up for lost time, I had to have weekly matches, instead of bi-weekly, or I would never finish battling the remaining teams before the playoffs. This would be a tiring two month or so with little time left over for me to work on my art, but least the pay was good for someone who was out of a job.

To fight gods again, I knew fully well that I need to get myself and the White Robed Witch back into shape. After the rumors were resolved, I finally could log in the game peacefully and level the White Robed Witch properly. I had been completing the Lunar New Year quest over break for the rewards, but she still haven't reached level 75 due to the enormous experience curve at the higher levels. After New Years, I quickly leveled her up to 75 with the help from many guilds and did quests from the guide to get more skills points.

When the White Robed Witch hit level 75, all my event equipment auto upgraded. Wei Chen was excited to take look at all the changes right away.

"F**k, f**k, f**k." Wei Chen muttered a stream of curses under his breath when I handed him my account card. He cursed about the unfairness in the world even though his eyes were still glued to the screen.

x

When I hit level 75, my equipment set gave me an option to reset the skill and skill points locked into my gear pieces, which I used. With the new level 75 Battle Mage skills out, I had to reconsider which Battle Mage skills to equip until who knows when the next level cap increase will be. Ye Xiu came to consult me about what he thought about the new level 75 Elementalist and Battle Mage skills. We took our time deciding, practicing, and testing Battle Mage and Elementalist skills on spare accounts.

Furious Dragon Strikes the Heart was removed. The attack was powerful, but it was limited by its long ending attack animation. The best way to use it was to get behind your opponent and use it when their defenses are down so by the time they get out of the attack, the animation would be done too. Do you know how hard it was to get behind a pro-player? Thus, I don't find myself using it a whole lot.

In its place, we chose the new level 75 Battle Mage attack: Shattering the Mountains and Rivers (斗破山河) (1). The attack also had a long ending sequence, but the damage output was far superior than the level 60 skill and it created aftershocks during the ending sequence. Together, Ye Xiu and I switched up the skill set on the gears and decided on where the rest of the skill points should go. We also decided to put a few sparing points into other mage class low level skills for crowd control mostly. One thing was for sure, the teams would be in for a big surprise when they face the new and improved level 75 White Robed Witch.

With lots of luck, the White Robed Witch also reached the maximum skill points. Actually, she would have the highest skill points in Glory period. She had a total of 5501 skill points. Yes 5501, you didn't read it wrong and this wasn't a bug or typo.

x

At level 75, the White Robed Witch had a unique skill that is only available to her. Before I left Glory Co., I was told to design a special skill for the White Robed Witch that she would use alone. This was to help increase generate excitement, increase viewership, and add to the battle visuals. It seemed like the game development department didn't remove the skill even after I left the company. Most likely a lazy oversight on their part. The skill have an auto max level of 1, thus resulting in 5501 skill points.

Level 75 Unique Skill - Frostbitten Kiss (冰霜之吻). Max level 1: A low chance (5%) of instant killing opponent with an icy kiss. Ignores all enemy buffs and resistant. Chance doubles when the opponent in a frozen state. Can be only used on male player characters and male human type monsters. Cooldown: 1 hr.

This skill was a bit embarrassing to use, and it wasn't my first choice either! I had given the design department other ideas I had come up. There were also suggestions for Ice Arrow and Avalanche, but it seemed like they ended deciding on this one anyways.

"Oh. This is an interesting skill. Let me study it for a while." Ye Xiu's eyes lit up when he saw this completely new skill that wasn't available to anyone else and borrowed my account card for a couple days. Within those couple days, Happy's guild seemed to miraculously set a few new records at dungeons in the Heavenly Domain for the fastest clear with my character.

x

Feb 15 was an exciting day for fans across Glory. Over the last week, many of their favorite teams were able to upgrade their main player's silver weapon to level 75. But more importantly, the Pro Alliance had announced that today was the day the White Robed Witch reappears on the pro stage. This time, she wasn't appearing as a character who was doing advertisement for Glory Co, but as a normal player. Applauses and cheers erupted at the Clear Splendor stadium to welcome my return.

"It has been a while. It looks like you have changed your hairstyle. It looks good. What have you been up to since the last time we saw you?" The host asked before my match against someone from Clear Splendor.

"Trying to find an opportunity still. Mostly drawing and playing Glory nowadays." I explained.

"Oooohh." Came from the audience.

"What have you been drawing? Is it Glory related?"

"I have been drawing some Glory characters I have encountered online, some wild bosses, some original character, and of course the White Robe Witch. I also still owe Little Lu a drawing of his character. However with the new update, his gears keep on changing every fight, so it has been a little hard to finish it."

"Ah I see. The new update did shake the whole Glory world. Is there anything else you are currently working on that you'd like to share with us?"

"Honestly, I'm just honing my skills. I plan to make a figure for the White Robed Witch in the future. It is going to be a future plan since the process will take a while. If there is any interest seeing my new works, you can check out my new weibo at The White Rabbit (白白兔)." I said casually.

The whole stadium went silent as if they were all trying to digest that piece of information. 'The White Robed Witch' and 'figure' were the only few words that the audience needed to hear before erupting into another thunderous cheer.

Clear Splendor's player was met with an overwhelming defeat tonight. I didn't even have to use any level 75 attacks to win. With daily professional training under Ye Xiu while he stared me down like a second shadow, I improved a lot faster in the last month. But the main reason for the win was still the difference between level 75 silver equipment and level 75 orange equipment.

The White Robed Witch's stats improved all around when she reached level 75. The highest increase was no doubt her magic attack. On top of her silver equipment set, she was now was also able to equip the level 75 orange accessories she received from the Christmas event. When her magic attack increased, her physical attack also increased from the set effect. The White Robed Witch could be almost considered a pseudo-god character; the only reason she couldn't be considered an actually god character was because her equipment was pretty much a hack.

Clear Splendor, on the other hand, was just a lower tier team that wasn't doing well this season at all. There was a high chance of them being relegated this season even. A low tier like them didn't have many silver equipments to begin with. With Ye Xiu dominating over the level 75 wild bosses, even many big clubs had trouble getting their hands on materials, so small clubs like them don't even need to be mentioned.

The raging topic tonight wasn't the return of the White Robed Witch, or the battle process, or even her silver equipment upgrades. No one in the audience cared about any of that. All of tonight's event was overshadowed by my announcement of a future independent project for the White Robed Witch.

Glory Fans and Glory Pro Players flooded my weibo. Overnight, my unknown weibo that had 100 followers exploded to over 60,000 followers overnight. There, many people discovered rough sketches to complete illustrations that I have done over the past months of various Glory characters and wild boss fights under the new alias.

The White Robed Witch, Chasing Haze, Little Cold Hands, and Dawn Rifle were just few characters I had been drawn and posted to weibo. Because they weren't really well known characters in Glory or Happy, the drawings didn't gain too much attention until now. People just thought I was only an artist who was copying Naomi's drawing style. No one connected the dots until I reveal my weibo publicly.

Once my weibo identity was revealed, people finally discovered that my most of new drawings consistent of characters related to Happy. If they dug deeper, they would have found that the White Robed Witch was now in guild Happy too. The headline of next issue of all the major Esport news read something along the line of, "Naomi makes comeback and announces her own figure project", "what is Naomi's relation to Happy?" and "Is Naomi a Happy fan?".

* * *

Unrelated Extra Material:

Naomi: Wang JieXi! Wang JieXi! Look at my puppies. Aren't they the cutest?

WJX: Hm…

Naomi: What is it?

WJX: The older one have slightly downwards eyes and a rounder face. He must be a well behaved and a kind dog. He will be blessed with lots of treats and love. The younger one though. The narrower face, longer snout, and the plotting eyes. He must be a dog that's always up to no good. You must watch out for that one because he can bring misfortune to the family.

Naomi: Eh? You can tell read faces for animals too?

WJX: Of course. I'm the Magician after all.

* * *

(1) 斗破山河 - I think the translated work have it translated as Shattering the Lands. I went with a more literal translation. It literally means breaking/shattering the mountains and rivers.


	53. Comradeship

Feb 16 was the beginning of the end of my peaceful life as an artist. Okay, yea I am being super dramatic but my life as an artist took a back sit starting on this day for a few months. This was the day when pro-players started to show up in game to help their respective guilds to fight over wild boss. The balance in Glory was shook and battles over wild bosses turned into pure chaos. I thought all of this had nothing to do with me, but Ye Xiu - being Ye Xiu - of course had to drag me into this chaos. He ordered everyone at Happy, including me, to face these gods to gain battle experiences.

"Why do I have to be involved too?" I asked Ye Xiu. I failed to see why I needed to be dragged into his absurd training.

"You are part of Happy now too aren't you? This is a rare experience to improve your skills too. Besides You and Mo Fan have the most important job." He proceeded to push me down to a computer next to the wordless Mo Fan. I had stopped over on a particular day to see my cute little brother to get a hug before heading back to do more work. Why was this happening to me?

x

I didn't always draw in the loft above the internet cafe. Sometimes I would bring my sketchbook and drawing tablet to the apartment to hang out with everyone. I was only human and I got lonely. They couldn't go back to the training room at Happy Internet Cafe because of all the anti-fans. This just meant I have to come and visit them at the apartment more.

Walking in public had become more of a challenge once I started appearing on the pro stage again. From the broadcasting, people knew of my new hair style. A lot of people had figured out that the White Robed Witch was now associated with Happy. So, there was a high chance I was in City H. It was only a matter of time before people found out that I lived right over Happy Internet Cafe.

Most of the time, I was safely hidden away in Chen Guo's loft. But when I had to go out, I had to be more clever with my disguise. At least in the winter it was easy to hide under a giant winter hat and behind a giant scarf. I bought a long black wig just in case someone caught a sight of me. Once most of the guests in the cafe saw the long hair, they wouldn't think about taking a second look because the Naomi that everyone knew now had chin length hair.

After spending more time getting to know everyone in team Happy, Mo Fan was the only one that still don't talk much to me. Well, I guess Mo Fan doesn't really talk to anyone, so no hurt feelings. Just by watching, I noticed Mo Fan did everything with everyone else on the team, yet he won't interact with anyone. He was part of Happy, but at the same time he wasn't. I tried to converse with him once and found he was only a tiny bit easier to talk to as Zhou ZeKai. The guy didn't take forever to respond, but he still would end any conversation in a word or two. So, is he really any better? That's debatable.

x

"What important job is that?" I took the bait, but wondered if I should even ask.

"Comrade Mo Fan and XiaoBaiBai. If any of us should drop our equipment, you must snatch back our dropped equipment and protect it at all cost." Ye Xiu said like the most obvious thing in the world.

Mo Fan and I send Ye Xiu a glare and then shared a deadpan look with each other. We both wished that we could kill Ye Xiu and rob him of his silver weapon ourselves right now in game. It was too bad we were in the same guild and team, so there would be no damage between teammates. But the two of us still silently agreed somehow not let this guy sleep peacefully at night. What would give this guy unending nightmares though?

x

When I arrived at the battlefield with rest of Happy, I started to wonder why I went along with Ye Xiu's crazy idea since the idea was insane! Blue Brook, Herb Garden, and Tyrannical Ambition were already on the scene fighting over the wild boss Shadow Tactician Shaan. Within the clash of the guilds, a few characters more skillful than the rest could be seen fighting together. Based on their character class and guild affiliation, it wasn't too hard to figure which pros were involved.

Two lightning fast Blade Masters from Blue Brook: Huang ShaoTian and Lu HanWen.

Two crafty Witch from Herb Garden: Wang JieXi and Gao YingJie.

A showy Spitfire and a sneaky Brawler from Tyrannical Ambition: Zhang JiaLe and Lin JingYan.

These players weren't here alone either. Each of them were in a 100 guild group. The number of heals they would all received would make them unkillable.

"You are sure we should be charging in like this?" I asked Ye Xiu one last time to confirm.

"Wealth and glory goes to those who takes risks! Comrades, let's head out!" Ye Xiu yelled spiritedly into the in game voice chat.

"Leave me out of this!" I whined. But I still charged forward with everyone else. I wanted to cry at the chaotic scene, but I couldn't back out of it now.

x

"You are here too. You are not going to fight?" A Witched on a broom stopped over by me and asked. I just heard Gao YingJie's witch got tossed aside by Ye Xiu from YiFan. If Gao YingJie was just tossed by Ye Xiu, this only meant that this was the Magician, Wang JieXi. Just my luck.

"I was dragged here against my will. I'm the cleaning lady that is expected to clean up their mess. It looks like you have a talkative monkey on your trail. Need help with that?" I asked when I noticed a Blade Master spamming [Big Eye Wang] speech bubbles moving around in the crowd. It was kind of funny even though I was the "cleaning lady", Wang JieXi was the one with the broom. Well, it was funny to me anyways.

"No need. How are things?" Wang JieXi didn't even put Glory's number one sword saint in his eyes at the moment. The monkey was picked on by other members of Happy and was lead away.

"Not too bad. Trying to work things out."

Just as I was having a pleasant conversation with my old buddy Wang JieXi, Ye Xiu then seemed to pop out nowhere and saw that I was chilling and talking to the enemy. "You too! Don't talk to the enemy! Take this seriously! Does this run in the family?" He scolded me as he engaged Wang JieXi in battle. I was sure if Ye Xiu could have wack my character on the head right now if he could. It was lucky that we were in the same group currently and he was kept busy by Wang JieXi's Witch.

"See what I have to deal with everyday?" I lamented to Wang JieXi and pointing in Ye Xiu's way.

"Why don't you leave?" Wang JieXi replied simply.

"Got nowhere to go. Unless, you want to help me (你养我)(1)?" I joked.

"I could consider." Wang JieXi replied while holding off Ye Xiu.

"Should you take me so lightly, Big Eyed Wang?" Ye Xiu taunted Wang JieXi before turning to me, "Aren't you going to help XiaoBaiBai? Aren't you worried about your dinner tonight?"

"Sorry Wang JieXi. This villain also have my cute little brother and my meals in the palm of his hands. You understand how important my meals are to me right? I'm doing this against my will. Please don't take this attack personally." I said as I twirled my duo weapon in hand, looking for an opening to join the fight.

"I won't." Wang JieXi prepared for 2 vs 1 scenario.

x

Teleport. I closed the distance between the White Robed Witch and Wang JieXi's Witch in an instant. I followed with Disperse Powder and Shadow Cloak while Ye Xiu distracted Wang JieXi. Disperse Powder hit but Wang JieXi was still able to escape my Shadow Cloak on his broom despite the speed debuff.

"Witch class's debuff and grab skill. Good choices." Wang JieXi praised before sending Magic Missiles my way to push me back.

"Heh. Of course. Who do you think have been teaching her?" Ye Xiu said like a pompous ass as he rushed in front of me and opened up his Myriad Manifestation Umbrella to shield me from the attack.

Under the cover of the Myriad Manifestation Umbrella, I casted Magic Prison to silence Wang JieXi's skills. Only if it was that easy though. Wang JieXi figured something was up when Ye Xiu hid me from his line of sight and started flying erratically away.

"I will see you next weekend on stage." Wang JieXi said to me before flying off.

"Why would I see him on stage?" I asked Ye Xiu after we couldn't see the Wang JieXi's character anymore.

"Don't you have a match with Tiny Herb coming up soon?"

"Was it next weekend?" When you don't have a job and spend everyday like it's a weekend, you lose track of time.

"Figure it out later. We have a lot of big fish to fry right now." Ye Xiu said before leaving me in this mess again.

"Xiao Tang, wait! Let me get closer first before you start fighting!" I yelled at Tang Rou both in game and out while running towards her character. This fiery young lady just decided to rush head on against many players as possible at once to challenge herself.

x

Sure enough, I was flown out to City B Friday 3/1. I arrived in my hotel City B a bit early to meet up with my old coworkers for dinner. The oversea group came with the new addition of the team, Qi Yan. There was no tension or awkwardness. We all had a nice chat over food and drink. Qi Yan and I bonded over art stuff, but we bored the other people to death.

I didn't do too much Saturday before the match. I visited Dreamy Cakes and had a nice dinner with Lin's family before heading to Tiny Herb's stadium.

The format for my match versus Tiny Herb was another 2 vs 2 team battle. The results of the randomizer was Wang JieXi and Lu XiaoBie versus Gao YingJie and I. I looked at my partner worriedly. I wasn't looking down at YingJie or anything since he was a better player than I was. I knew YingJie was consider the genius of Tiny Herb, but he was still pretty green per Ye Xiu.

I almost swore on stage when I saw the results. This results must have been fixed or something! Two players known for their crazy AMP versus a Glory newcomer and normal player. This wasn't fair one bit.

"Good luck." Wang JieXi nodded to me during passing when we headed to the two opposite side of the stage.

"YingJie. I might have a way to defeat your Captain." I said quietly to the younger boy before we reached our destination.

"Eh?" He peeped in surprised.

"You have to find a to get him in range of my Absolute Zero attack. I have an all or nothing plan." I said seriously before we headed into different player booth.

x

Things weren't looking good for YingJie and I at all after the battle started. As much as I adored YingJie, we had terrible teamwork. Besides the one plan that I said to YingJie before the battle, we had no other plan.

Vaccaria and Flying Swords were beating us up pretty good. YingJie and Wang JieXi clashed brooms in the air while Liu XiaoBie and I exchanged blood on the ground. But I was taking a lot more damage than the other guy due to the difference in our armors: metal versus cloth. If this drags out more, I would be the one to fall first. I grinded my teeth. Liu XiaoBie's crazy hand speed kept me busy enough that even with my crazy cast speed I couldn't cast any spells to help YingJie or myself.

If Liu XiaoBie was too fast, I just have to slow him down. Liu XiaoBie came towards me with Triple Slash after I teleported away from his last attack. I ate the damage but then tossed Witch's Disperse Powder in Flying Sword's face afterwards. No matter how fast Liu XiaoBie was, he didn't expect me to eat damage just to slow down his character. Was this exchange worth it? Who knows and I didn't care too much at this point. I only wished that the power could have blinded his character too from being tossed right in the face. Alas, it wasn't a Brawler's sand toss. With Tyrant's Destruction and Flower Palm, Flying Sword was sent flying into the distance just for a little while. But this gave me enough time to help YingJie.

Heavenly Lightning Earthen Fire! This AOE attack overed a decent sized area. I didn't expect the attack to hit Vaccaria in the air at all; this was just a diversion to help YingJie get away. He flew over me and used Ice Rain to protect me from Flying Sword's who was charging back to finished the rest of my HP off. While Ice Rain was falling from the sky, Flying Sword could only wait until the skill was over.

Under the protection of Ice Rain, I used Magic Shackles to disrupt Vaccaria's Star Ray attack after YingJie. At this moment, YingJie circled back on his broom and tossed down more witch attacks around me to help limit Flying Swords movements towards me. While Vaccaria and Kind Tree flew overhead, I casted a Magic Prison in Vaccaria's direction, but missed.

It was a good thing that this was a team battle though, YingJie ate a significant amount of damage to sweep his captain into my Magic Prison. The moment Vaccaria was knocked into the airspace above my skill, he started to fall to the ground with his broom.

Chance!

I started to cast the Elementalist's level 75 ice skill, Absolute Zero while Vaccaria was falling. Flying Sword wasn't going to just sit still until I finished casting; he charged at me. YingJie intertereved and kept his senior busy enough for me to finish my spell.

Vaccaria was hit! The attack wasn't enough to kill him in one hit since he was had the most HP out of all of us on the field. His equipment probably do have magic damage resistant like many mage equipment, and maybe even additional ice damage resistance.

Vaccaria didn't lose too much health with my grand display of the level 75 skill. It was a good thing that it was the freeze effect that I was actually going for. Once Vaccaria was successfully encased in a mountain of ice. I jumped up the oversized icicle and used the White Robed Witch's unique skill, Frostbitten Kiss.

Even if it was just for a brief moment, that moment seemed magical. The White Robed Witch seemed to be floating in air from the mid jump and leaned in for the kiss.

x

From the skill animation, I could tell Kazumi probably was involved with these graphics. Snow started to fall around the White Robed Witch, then turned into a blizzard. The White Robed Witch didn't seem to be bothered by the weather change one bit. She even smirked a little like she had exactly where she wanted her enemy at. With frosty looking blue lips, she leaned in and kissed the surface of the ice that Vaccaria was trapped in. The ice that encased Vaccaria shattered after the kiss. Vaccaria fell to the ground with ice chucks.

Now for the moment of truth, how was my luck today? Did the attack take away the rest of Vaccaria's health?

Vaccaria got up from the ground immediately after the end of the skill animation. My luck wasn't good today. I wasn't able to finish Vaccaria with a 10% chance. That attack was my trump card. I wasn't able to use the skill again for 1 hour; I doubt I could drag out the battle for that long.

Wang JieXi didn't seem fazed at all after the never seen before skill and just swiped the rest of my health away with his magician playstyle. Kind Tree fell shortly after under the attacks from his two seniors with crazy hand speed.

"What was that?" YingJie asked with pure excitement in his eyes when he met me outside of the player's booth.

"A chance to win. Too bad it didn't work out." I sighed in disappointment.

"You k-k-kissed the captain!" He blushed like his character was the one that got kissed.

"Oi, oi. Don't start thinking too much into it. It wasn't a real kiss. It's just another skill animation. Besides, their lips didn't touch at all. Didn't you see? There was a layer of ice separating the two!" I clicked my tongue in distaste. It wasn't that huge of a deal, was it?

I couldn't be more wrong. The audience was in an uproar. The host was completely speechless for once. Even Wang JieXi couldn't look me in the eyes after the match.

x

[The Witch and the Magician? It has a good ring to it.]

[Their characters do look good together]

[Ahhh! I can't believe this!]

[But he have two different size eyes! Ahhhh! How can she like someone that is so scary looking?! She must only have seen Wang JieXi from side views and didn't notice. Notice how scary he looks with his two different sized eyes Naomi!]

The pro player's QQ buzzed excited with messages like this all night. The chat looked like regular player's forum gossips.

Later that night, I received an email from Tiny Herb to invite me to an exclusive interview with a eNews reporter to make an official statement. Glory Pro Alliance also asked me to stay a few days longer in City B because they wanted to talk about something too. Oh great. People were blowing up this situation way out of proportions.

The internet had a meltdown after the match. This time, it wasn't just pairings between the White Robed Witch and Vaccaria. There were also real life people pairing. Many shippers and just as many haters flood quickly into my weibo. Thus, fanfics and fanarts flooded my weibo once again.

* * *

Bonus Scene(1): Mo Fan and Naomi's Revenge!

For the next few nights after the first chaotic battle with all the pro-players, Ye Xiu found realistic plastic spiders, cockroaches, and other insect toys hidden under his bedsheets and on his pillow every night when he went to bed.

"Heh. To whoever doing this, I'm not scared of these things." Ye Xiu tossed down a bag of the insect toys he collected to the training area and smirked. Not sure if it was intentionally, but Ye Xiu left the bag between Mo Fan and I. F**K! We been found out. Mo Fan and I thought at the same time and both of our palms started to sweat. However ,Ye Xiu didn't say anything more than that.

[If he asks, let's just say it was Wei Chen.] I said to Mo Fan in a private chat in a private chat.

[Ok] Mo Fan responded.

Technically, Wei Chen indeed was the one who actually put the toys in Ye Xiu's bed. We only provided the toys and bribed Old Wei with a pack of cigarette every day that he put the bugs there. I was confident the fingerprint evidence wouldn't match either Mo Fan and I.

Should we try to attempt to steal and hide Ye Xiu's account card next?

Even though our attempt to scare Ye Xiu failed, Mo Fan and I bonded a little over this whole thing. How do I know? Sure the guy didn't speak almost at all, but I could see in some of his actions in game. He started to cover my back and even saved my butt during the chaotic fights against the pro players. Among the members of happy, I was starting to think Mo Fan was the most normal one out of all of them, besides my cute little brother of course.

* * *

Bonus Scene(2): Interview at Tiny Herb

Reporter: "Good morning, Miss Naomi. How are you this morning?"

Naomi: "Good. How are you?"

Reporter: "I'm fine as well. Let's jump into what everyone wants to know right now. Why did you have the White Robed Witch kiss Vaccaria in the last match?"

Naomi: "It wasn't a kiss. It was a skill."

Reporter: "Let me rephrase that. Why did you decide to use him as your first target in all the matches?"

Naomi: "No particular reason. It was just my best chance to win against him."

Reporter: "Why was your best chance to defeat Captain Wang? Did you hope to catch him off guard with that attack?"

Naomi: "The attack is an all or nothing attack. It instantly KO the opponent if the effect takes effect."

Reporter: "Then, is any other special reason why you have displayed the skill the first time ever on Vaccaria?"

Naomi: "No."

Reporter: "Do you have a special relationship with Captain Wang?"

Naomi: "No." (At this point, the reporter wanted to cry)

Reporter: "Can you explain why haven't we seen you use this attack before?"

Naomi: "It's hard for me to freeze my opponent use during 1 vs 1. If I remember correctly, the last 2 vs 2 I fought was with Tyranny, and I wasn't level 75 then. I only got the skill at level 75 recently."

Reporter: "Then do you-"

Naomi: "I think we are out of time for more question. I have another appointment elsewhere. If you excuse me."

Naomi got up and left the interview without another word. The reporter wanted to cry. He had hoped to get more dirt than just this. Helplessly, he turned to his next target, hoping he would get more out of this person.

Report: "So Captain Wang, what did you think of the match last night?"

WJX: "It was a good match.

Reporter: "What did you think about the kiss?"

WJX: "I think Naomi timed that skill well as a last resort to win."

In the end the reporter didn't get anything juicy gossips that the reader wanted to read. The life of a reporter wasn't easy!

* * *

(1) 养: direct translation is like to keep, to take care, or to raise. Usually use as in keep/take care a pet, or raise a child. I used to help in this case for better flow but what Naomi really meant in her joke was if he was going to let her live with him/ take responsibility for her future since he was suggesting her to leave Ye Xiu's place.

* * *

A/N: Speaking of pets. One of my puppies is currently having some health issues. I'm hoping it's just allergies or a rash. So due to that, I can't be more attentive to the fanfic right now. Sorry for the lower quality editing/content and not checking comments/commenting on comments - which I usually enjoy doing. Just been pretty distracted lately. Hope you guys still enjoy the update!


	54. No Luck

The Monday after my match with Tiny Herb, I visited Glory Co. No, it wasn't because I was getting my job back or anything. I set up an appointment with the legal department to see what are the steps I needed to do to obtain an official trademark license to produce Glory related goods on my own.

Like usual, the big corporation was being a jerk face money sucking monster. They wanted everything in their favor. I probably would have felt more nerve wrecked than I was currently if it wasn't for Lin. I had already gotten a heads up about how this meeting was going to go down from Lin when I had dinner with his family. He already told me how the company would try to screw me over on their current offer.

"There is no way I'm going to take the current deal, Mr. Yang." I said with the most pleasant smile I could possibility manage in this situation.

"I assure you this is the best deal you will get from us, Miss Wang." Mr. Yang, the man in the suit that was sent for this case, replied back with a sneezy smirk. He probably scared a lot of inexperienced artist with that line.

"I'm fine with 70/30. But I think I should at least get 70 and the company get 30. I'm doing all the heavy lifting here and using my own money on materials and everything. You guys are only sitting on your hands and providing me the trademark license." Clearly they thought I was an idiot if they thought I somehow was going to take those terrible terms.

"Trademark fees are not cheap nowadays, Miss Wang. I suggest you take what's offered or you won't even get that."

"Ha!" I laughed in the suit's face. "I only came to you guys first out of courtesy. If it is going to be like this, I will find someone else to back me or come with a lawyer next time."

"It is not wise to threaten us, Miss Wang. You should really be careful of what you say next because we will take the deal off the table completely. You have to realize that the White Robed Witch and any other game character are Glory characters. Without the company's green light, you won't get anywhere." The suit threatened.

"And you guys have to realize, with all the legal paperwork. Without my consent, you can't make a penny off of her either." I didn't back down. The suit and I proceeded to glare each other down.

As you can see this meeting wasn't going well and was escalating fast.

"Hmm...coffee?" The suit's clueless secretary walked into the meeting room with a Styrofoam cup of coffee in hand.

"I think we are done here." The Suit turned his glare to the poor innocent soul by the door.

"You are right. We are done. No point of wasting a perfectly good cup of coffee." I grabbed the cup of coffee on my way out.

Bleh. I made a face when I sipped the coffee. They didn't even bring out the fancy coffee for this meeting. They used the cheapest instant stuff. This just showed how much Glory Co respected this meeting with me. Well, things would be tough for a while, but they were the ones that would lose out in the end.

x

"Naomi? Is that you?" YueHua saw me on the way out. "I guess that meeting didn't go well eh?"

"How could you tell."

"Your pissed off expression. It makes you look pretty ugly." YueHua grinned. "Do you have time to talk a bit?"

Just as I was about to say sure to YueHua, someone else recognized me.

"You are Naomi, right? It's nice to meet you. I'm a fan of your work!" Another guy in suit cut into the ongoing conversation and shook my hands. Are all men in suits were so tactless?

"Err. Yea. And you are?" I shook his hands rather mechanically.

A fan? I blinked rather blankly at the man in front of me. He seemed friendly enough, but I have no experience on how to deal with fans. This guy was giving off some weird vibes. Should I run away as fast as I could?

"I'm Li Jun. I work for the Glory Professional Alliance. It is pure luck that I bumped into you here. Do you have time right now? The Alliance Chairman would like to meet you. Let's go!"

"Huh? Right now?" I questioned, but Li Jun somehow linked arms with me and lead me out of the front door.

"Shoot me a text to chat when you have a moment!" YueHua just yelled and watched me get taken away by this person who claim that works for the Pro Alliance. Shouldn't you call the police and report the kidnapping in a moment like this YueHua?!

Things happened faster than my brain could comprehend. When I finally snapped out of my daze, I somehow already ended up in a cab with this Li Jun guy. Wait...this wasn't a kidnapping, right? Right? I started to freak out. At least I still had my coffee. I thought about jumping out of the moving car but cab was already on the expressway. Just keep on sipping coffee, I told myself.

x

I guess I didn't anything to worry about in the end. I ended up safely at the front steps of Glory Professional Alliance building safe and sound with my coffee. I sipped my, now cold, coffee in relief. Ah...caffeine.

"This way. Everyone should be in the meeting right now." Li Jun waved me into the building interior.

"Everyone?" I questioned. How many people wanted to meet me?

"Yea! Everyone! It's great. It's like a big party in there." Li Jun said vaguely.

"Chairman! Chairman!" Li Jun pushed open a double glass door to a big meeting room.

Everyone in the room turned to look at the source of the disturbance. I stared back to the 41 pairs of eyes. Some faces familiar, others not so much. I did notice that all 20 Glory team captains and managers were present in this meeting. I felt like I had just walked into a private party uninvited. Li Jun, what have you done?! You just disturbed a very important looking meeting! Must calm the nerves. Must sip coffee. I continued to sip my coffee awkwardly while staring back at everyone in the room.

"What is it now Li Jun? This better be important." An older guy in front of the room leading the meeting scolded the man by my side.

"Look who I bumped into during my visit at Glory Co! Don't be shy now Naomi. Say hi to everyone." Li Jun urged while looking rather pleased with himself right now. I had a urge to smack the air head right now. It wasn't an issue of being shy or not right now!

"Hey. How's everyone doing?" I swallowed my annoyance and waved to everyone in the room. Some people waved back and other nodded my way.

"Oh. It's Naomi. I'm sure everyone here is familiar with Naomi since we are so far into the season now. Come in, have a seat Naomi. I'd like your thoughts and help on this issue." The Chairman's annoyed expression immediately disappeared and invited me in once he found out who I was.

"Naomi." Zhou ZeKai, who sat the closest to the doors, gestured to an empty seat next to him. This seat as just as good as any others in room. I also didn't want to disrupt the meeting anymore by taking time to find another seat.

"Thanks." I nodded in the young man's way.

Zhou ZeKai's expression lit up a little like a puppy who got praised. It was pretty cute. Oh the urge to put some dog ears and tail on him and pat him on the head. That would be really cute.

x

"Ahem, as I was saying you all shouldn't let your personal feelings getting in the way. It would not be good if your matches in the league were affected, especially this time of the year." The Chairman coughed into his fist to gather everyone's attention back to him again.

After the Chairman's word, the room went into an uproar of complaints and overlapping voices. From what I could make it, it seemed like everyone was upset that Ye Xiu was making trouble for everyone in game with Happy's special training regimen. People have suggested allying together to fight Ye Xiu and his group, others even suggested banning his account and kicking Happy out of the Challenger league. Even Zhou ZeKai made an effort to put in a word.

"Yeah." Literally one word for Zhou ZeKai.

I guess I never realized Ye Xiu's in game disruptions would be serious enough for the Glory Pro Alliance to call for a meeting between all the teams.

"Miss Naomi. You have been seen hanging around Ye Qiu's team often. Can you tell us what is he up to? Why is he doing this?" Chairman pleaded my way when the room finally calmed down a little. Everyone's gaze seem to shift to me, expecting an enlightening answer that will crack this case right open. I wanted to cry inside; I felt like a spy in an interrogation room with 41 investigators. I ran out of coffee too. I wanted to leave.

"Well…." My brain searched for an answer. I know well enough to not give out Happy's plans. Also, it was to save the team faces. What would they all think or say if they found out Ye Xiu was using the pro players as his team's personal trainers. What to say though...

"He needs rare materials from the wild bosses to upgrade his silver weapon. The normal players on his side have no chance against the pro players, so he is just taking it upon his little group to face the pro players so the rest of them have a chance for the wild bosses. It's not like the teams could just hand him the wild boss's materials he needs if he asked, right?" I said with a straight face but thought, 'Bam! Nail it.'

"Oh. I see. I see." The explanation made perfect sense. Everyone in the room accepted the answer without any doubt. They fell quiet for a few moments as they processed the information. I could see the gears turn in all their heads, trying to formulate some sort of plan to counter Happy.

"I honestly think Liu Hao's suggestion could work." Blue Rain's Captain Yu WenZhou suddenly spoke up and explained a method to limit Ye Xiu's group's disturbance. With the Chairman's approval, the teams began to make plans and set up a rotation schedule of who and when would keep Ye Xiu's group busy while the rest of them fight over wild bosses.

x

After the meeting, only the Chairman had left in a hurry. The rest of the people stayed behind to discuss and finish up the rotation schedule or just to chat about the things in the season. I seemed to be forgotten in my own little corner of the room until Old Han came to talk to me.

"Brat. Were you hiding during the meeting?" Old Han cornered me once the meeting was adjourned. Sometimes Old Man was too sharp for his own good.

When Old Han approached me, the noise in the room seemed to simmer down again and everyone seemed to eavesdrop on our conversation.

I was saved by the growling of my stomach. "What I'm not saying was I'm starving and quite unhappy at the moment. I had to deal with a crappy lawyer all morning, and I didn't get to eat lunch when that guy dragged me unwillingly here. Would you buy me lunch? I'm poor and jobless right now." I complained loudly for everyone in the room to hear.

"What do you want to eat?" Old Han let out a sigh.

"Something expensive since you are paying. Dreamy Cakes is close by, buy me cake?"

"Cake is not real food. How are you even getting properly nutrient?" He sighed again.

"Gasp! How dare you to insult cake. Cake is like the best food ever! You know what? This is a deal breaker. Friendship over." I put both of my hands to my heart and pretend to be super offended and hurt. "Also, stop sighing so much. Don't you know that every time you sigh, a little bit of your happiness escapes."

"And whose fault is that."

"Who knows. Not mine though." I shrugged and faked innocence.

x

When the room heard that Han WenQing and I were just talking about lunch and other nonsense, most of people went back talking to their own little groups. A few people did come over to join the conversation though.

"...Lunch?" Zhou ZeKai was the first that came over. Unfortunately without the Zhou ZeKai translator with him, it was difficult to understand Glory's number one sharpshooter.

"Are you hungry too, Little Zhou? Do you want to come and eat with us? Old Man here is treating." I could only take my best guess as to what Zhou ZeKai was asking.

"Ok." Zhou ZeKai had a small sheepish smile on his lips.

"Naomi. It's has been a while. How have things been lately? If you are hungry, Blue Rain still owe you a meal." Yu WenZhou came over shortly after with Wang JieXi.

"If you guys need any recommendations, I have a few private places in mind." Wang JieXi said.

"Oh? Where do Captain Wang and Tiny Herb usually like to go? I know a few good places in the area too." Lou GanNing and Wang JieXi then dived into their own conversation about local dining.

And this was how I found myself having a late lunch together with Old Man, Wang JieXi, Yu WenZhou, Zhou ZeKai, and other people who decided to tag along last minute. Chu YunXiu, captain of Misty Rain, came along to increase the estrogen ratio in the group. Captains of Parade, Conquering Clouds, and Radiant decided to also tag along probably due to their guild alliance with Ye Xiu. In the end, we needed up with a giant group of very eye-catching people.

x

Wang JieXi and Lou GanNing agreed to take the group to a close by restaurant that had private booths that could accommodate so many people. I ended up seating closest to the door because I was the only one in the group that had a flight out of City B later in the day. Everyone else either lived in the city or was staying overnight.

"Order anything you like to eat Naomi!" Everyone around the table urged when I flipped open the menu.

"You guys go ahead and order. I can't really understand all the menu items…" I laughed dryly when I glanced over all the fancy names of dishes. Was this still in Chinese? Why couldn't I comprehend the menu at all?

"You can order whatever looks good that's pictured." Yu WenZhou politely pointed out some of the pictured items.

x

In the end, everyone around the table ordered one dish that they would like to eat and also to share. It was a good thing that the majority of people present were guys, and most of them could eat a lot despite the large family portion sizes.

"Are you eating enough, Xiao Zhou?" I asked Zhou ZeKai next to me who seemed to be only eating white rice the whole time.

"Ok." He replied.

Out of everyone here, he seemed to eat the least. I noticed early on Zhou ZeKai had trouble grabbing food from the Lazy Susan(1) in the center table because he was indecisive. When he finally decided to grab something, it was already moved out of his reach. Poor guy.

"Here. You wanted this before right? Try this. This shrimp was good too." I started to mom him and piled various things into his rice bowl.

"Thanks." Zhou ZeKai flushed a little and started to eating everything I put into his bowl. So he does have a healthy appetite.

"Eat your vegetables." Old Han put a giant chopstick full of greens into my bowl while I watched Zhou ZeKai eat watch like a proud mom.

"Ahaha. That's alright Old Han. You need this more than I do." I laughed and tried to return the vegetables back to his bowl, and we were locked in a chopstick fight.

Besides being forced to eat yucky vegetables by Old Han, the meal was very enjoyable. That is until the bill came.

x

When the bill came, war broke out between the teams. It was rather amusing though.

"I insist that Heavenly Sword, the most junior team of everyone here, treats all the seniors to the meal." Lou GanNing said while made a grab for the bill.

"What kind of senior would we be if we let the most junior pay for all of this. It will seem like we are picking on our junior." Chun YunXiu knocked the bill out of the Lou GanNing's hands.

"Tiny Herb insist that we pay."

"Blue Rain also insist."

"Tyranny got this."

"...Samsara."

Some fought over the bills; some just sat on the sidelines as onlookers while eating fruit or drinking tea.

I do admit this was highly entertaining to watch, but I was out of time. I had a plane to catch. While the chaos continued, I snuck out of the room to the front desk and gave them my credit card.

"Thank you for coming. But, what should we tell the others in the room?" The waitress at the front desk asked while glancing down the hall at the noisy room.

"Just tell them I had a plane to catch and I will see them all later." I said before leaving to flag down a cab to the airport.

"NAOMI!" All the pro players in the room yelled at the missing person the room when a waitress went to tell them the bill was already settled and asked them to clear out the room for the next party sometime later.

I had to turn off my QQ messaging at the airport due to the number of messages I received in regards to the restaurant bill.

* * *

Extra Random Material:

During some downtime at Happy, a weird conversation came up about who fit what role if the pro-players were in a historical drama.

Wei Chen: I would the emperor (皇上). Why? I'm the oldest in the crowd that is still active haha.

Ye Xiu: Yup. And you would be usurped by the people because you would a despicable emperor.

Wei Chen: Then who would you be?

Ye Xiu: Heh. I would be the one to usurp you and be next emperor of course.

Wei Chen: Backstabber! Like you would make a better emperor than me. Che.

Naomi: Enough about you guys, what about the other players?

Wei Chen: If Ye Xiu were the emperor, then Han WenQing would be the head general(将军) that will try to take you off your throne. Wang JieXi, Yu WenZhou, Huang ShaoTian, Zhou ZeKai, and rest of them youngsters will be your sons (阿哥) that would plot behind your back too for your throne.

Ye Xiu: You worry too much. I don't ever plan to have that many sons. I wouldn't give them the chance.

Wei Chen: Then they would be your advisors.

Naomi: What about me? Who do you think I will be? A princess (格格)?

Ye Xiu: You would be a lowly palace servant girl (奴婢) that is made to run errands for everyone else. Careful with your head though, it might roll if you anger anyone. Hehe.

Naomi: Che. I don't like this conversation anymore. How did we start to talk about this to begin with?

* * *

A/N: Been busy playing MapleStory M that was just release instead of writing more...oops. Just found out there is a chibi Ye Xiu figure coming out? What? It looks pretty simple but adorable. Must get!


	55. Revenge is Sweet as Popsicles

I stopped worrying about my guest matches after the match with Tiny Herb. At this point in time, I already fought against all the strong and most of the mid-tier teams.

I wasn't looking down at the rest of the team's strength or anything. There was still Thunderclap, Parade, and Hundred Blossom left to face along with some lower tier teams. I wasn't arrogant enough to think I will win easily against any of their members. I just had to make a choice between spending more time working on my art or spend the majority of my time practicing in Glory.

Every since I announced my new weibo page, I had many people contact me for commissions and requests. Fans wanted me to draw their Glory character; publishing companies wanted me to illustrate books covers and light novels; animation and gaming companies wanted to commission me for figure on a as needed basis. Within a day, I had so many requests flood my weibo that I didn't know what to do with all of them.

I was truly thankful with the amount of work coming my way. I no longer have to worry about my future as an artist.

x

In the end, I decided to sign on for two upcoming light novels series with a publishing company. I will be working together with the authors and company to create the cover, draw the main characters designs, illustrate the art inserts, and design character goods in the future. This will help give me a somewhat steady income for now, and I can always pick up more projects in the future.

On the side, I decided to open up an art commission for fans on my weibo due to popular demands. I would take 2 fan request at a time and the rest would be put on a waitlist. It wasn't limited Glory related characters either. A original character, a video game character, or a favorite anime character - I would draw anything that's requested by the fans.

Unfortunately, my prices weren't cheap since I was a professional artist. The price range varied with if they wanted just a sketch to a detailed illustration; a head-shot or a full body with background. Even with the high price, there were still many people who were willing to pay. When I officially announced it on my weibo and posted the price menu, I had a wait list until end of the year within a day.

x

On top of that, YueHua had invited me to the CCG Expo in City S, one of the biggest ACG convention in China, as a regular attendee. She was one of the highly regarded organizers for the event. Due to her influence as a committee member, it was easy for her to get me a free ticket. I could also crash in her hotel room since she will have a room to herself.

I have no idea if I was able to go to WonFest this year, so this was a good alternative for me to stay in the loop with the major figure companies. A few of the big companies from Japan were going to be present at the CCG with their current and upcoming projects. Glory Co was trying to play with those top dogs by also being present. They planned to be reveal the painted figure of Troubling Rain at CCG Expo this year.

I was excited by the opportunity. I have wanted to experience the ACG conventions in China, but I had no time when I was working, but I couldn't afford to fork out a large amount of money when I have no job. Ugh, the contradiction of adult life.

x

[Yay! Look forward to the cosplay I prepared for you. After I do a few modification, it will be perfect!] YueHua texted back when I told her I would take her up on her offer. Somehow I had a feeling there was a catch to all of this. She wanted me to be her cosplay partner.

[Is it okay to be flashy?] I started to worry about this already.

[Don't worry! Cosplay is the best way to hide in plain sight.] I have to admit, YueHua did have a point there. With her awesome makeup skills, she can make me look like a completely person anyways, so I don't have anything to worry about.

x

With the light novel projects in hand, I started to work late into the night seven days a week, and became a hermit that lived above Happy internet cafe who only went out during match days. It was imperative I design the main characters to the author and company's liking so I can start to do the rest of the illustration. If it wasn't for my cute little brother YiFan checking up on me, and brought me food and drinks daily, I think I would starve to death without anyone noticing.

As for my March matches, you win some and you lose some. Well, actually, I was on a winning streak after the match against Tiny Herb. I won against Seaside, Lightly, Parade, and even Thunderclap.

x

For Thunderclap's match, I highly suspected that I would be going up against the infamous Liu Hao. From his narcissistic history, there was a good chance that he wanted to use this chance to show off to everyone matching. And I was correct.

I remember Liu Hao from different sources. He took part in Excellent Era's scheme chasing Ye Xiu out of the club. He was one of the players who got traded to Thunderclap for Shao ShiQin. He was also the annoying guy at the captain's meeting who was openly out to get Ye Xiu. I don't have one good thing I remember about him.

Due to his showy nature, I was sure he would most likely choose to fight me himself so he could use me as a stepping stone to show off. Anyways, I didn't have any good opinion of the guy and thought this was a good opportunity to plant his face into the ground, in the game of course.

The week leading up to my match at Thunderclap's stadium, I took the whole week off from my art projects to prepare. I asked both Ye Xiu and SuSu about Liu Hao's play style, habits, and weaknesses. One was his past mentor; the other was an old teammate. Both were great references. Was this considered cheat? Nah, I was just being resourceful. When you got such good resources at your fingertips, why not use it?

x

Ye Xiu told me to just fight as usual and don't think about things like revenge.

"When you think about too many things, it will impact your performance negatively." Ye Xiu said to me at one point during the week.

"How can you not be at least a bit mad at him?" I just couldn't let it go.

"What's the point of thinking about it?" Ye Xiu just shook his head lightly at me.

"Don't you get some relief thinking about beating him to pulp during a match or putting a fist into his ugly mug?" Ye Xiu was a really chill guy, but wasn't he too chill sometimes? He would definitely taken advantage like this! Oh wait, so far he had always taken advantage of others; I was over worrying for nothing.

"Hehe. Where you raised by gangsters? Just concentrate on what you can right now." Ye Xiu ruffled my hair before going to talk to Wei Chen more about silver equipment development stuff.

x

"I'm looking forward our match tonight." Liu Hao said with sneazy big grin on his greasy pig face during the pre-match chat.

"I have been looking forward to this match. I'm not going to go easy on you!" I smiled back pleasantly. He seemed to think I was going to be an easy target and didn't put me in his eye at all. I was just a regular player, how hard could it be to beat me? He probably thought. Well, underestimating me was his mistake.

The match started out like any other match. His Spellblade, Total Darkness, and my White Robed Witch was send into two ends of a forest map. Black versus white. It almost looked like a battle between good and evil. I wasted no time running towards the center of the map at full speed. I used teleport along with other charge type of attacks. I planned to camp out there first to see what I can utilize in the surrounding to ambush Liu Hao.

"Hey. Are you here yet? I been waiting at the center of the map for a while now." I typed in the public chat, taunting the other party.

Moments later, I saw Total Darkness run pass my character's view.

"I didn't know you started to trash talk too, Goddess Naomi. Where are you really?" Liu Hao responded in the chat when he didn't see me in the opening like he had expected. He started to closely examine the shadows of the trees and bushes with a critical eye.

"What do you mean? I'm right next to you." I typed while I continued to stalk Total Darkness like a lioness stalking her prey.

Liu Hao did a quick 360 degree in game, but couldn't find any ink of evidence I was nearby. He started to be unnerved by how calm his surrounding was. He started to send some low level attacks into possible hiding places into the trees and bushes, but I wasn't there. I could tell, Liu Hao was getting antsy.

"If you keep on hiding goddess, you will get a penalty card from judge." Liu Hao typed.

"Losing your cool?" I taunted back immediately.

x

From the match's godview, the audience could see everything and knew that I wasn't lying at all when I told him that I was right next to him. Everyone in the stadium unknowing held a breath in their chest, waiting for the clash that would happen anytime now.

Liu Hao just thought that I was hiding behind some bushes or up in a tree instead of the calming lake behind him. No one expected me to dive straight into the waters right at the beginning of the match and somehow not making one ripple on the surface while coming up for breath once in a while. Yes, I have learned the basic on how to move around underwater stealthily from Ye Xiu and YiFan.

Liu Hao finally made a good decision to use his Electric Wave Formation to see just how close I was. At max level, the range of the attack would attack anything within 15 units of him. Only downside of that decision was it required some casting time.

The moment I saw his character started to cast the skill, the White Robed Witched charged out of the waters with Dragon Breaks the Ranks to break his character chant. When my spear reached his character, I cancelled the skill halfway to avoid the ending animation and followed up with a onslaught combo of Battle Mage skills and normal attacks. By the end of the combos, Liu Hao was down 30% of health. I wished I could see how ugly his expression was in real life right now.

Liu Hao lost his sense of direction in game during the onslaught of attack. However despite how bad his personality was, he was still a pro. He quickly adjusted his character and charged towards me with his own set of combos.

Attacks are only good if they hit. I dodged, teleported, and blocked

The difference between Elementalist vs any other class that required time to cast their skills was Elementalist had a special skill called Mobile Cast. This class of Mages do not need to stand still like a sitting duck while casting their spells.

Liu Hao send a Earth Wave Slash my way. I countered with my Ice Wall and then blocked his character view with a Raging Flames out of the ground to dive out of view again to cast something of a bigger scale.

When the flashy fire attack died down, Liu Hao lost the view of my character again. As the match went on, I could tell Liu Hao was becoming annoyed and desperate. An easy match to prove himself was having the exact opposite effect. All the achievements he had build up over this season was being crushed by a normal player. Was it bad that I enjoyed every moment of tearing down everything he build up?

x

This time when he couldn't find my character, Liu Hao immediately started to cast Electric Wave Formation again to attack me even though he wasn't sure where I was. With Mobile Cast and my faster cast stats bonuses, I finished my casting faster than him. Total Darkness was trapped within my Magic Prison, unable to use any skills for 4 seconds.

4 seconds might not seem like a long time normally. How many 4 seconds have any of us wasted every single day. But 4 second was life and death in a Glory match. Within the 4 seconds, I was able to let a Heavenly Lightning Earthen Fire lose on Liu Hao.

The splendid combination of fire and and lightning danced together. I didn't just stand there and admire my handywork though. I unleashed another set of Battle Mage combos on Liu Hao.

Liu Hao made a comeback mid-battle. But all I could say it was too little, too late. With the last bit of my MP, I had White Robe Witch go all out. I planned to take the rest of Total Darkness of HP in one go.

I send Total Darkness flying into the air with Falling Flower Palm and froze him in a mountain of ice with my ultimate level 75 ice skill, Absolute Zero. During the freeze status, I used Ye Xiu's Dragon Raises Its Head as my finisher move.

I smiled rather evilly when I performed the skill perfectly and the attack hit its mark. Liu Hao probably never expected to be finished off with Ye Xiu's technique. Was he about to go mad right now? I hoped that Ye Xiu, SuSu and the rest of Happy saw this grand moment. I had practiced all week for this perfectly planned out moment. I wanted them to see I have avenged Ye Xiu.

Needless to say, Liu Hao looked ghostly pale when he and I met on stage again after the match for the usual post match chats.

"It's funny how things come in full circle, Eh?" I whispered into his ear during the normal post match handshake.

"You...you…" Was all Liu Hao managed to say while I walking away with a big smile on my face and a small skip in my steps.

x

"What did you think? What did you think?" I asked Ye Xiu excitedly when I got back to City H. It was a bit childish, but I wanted to be praised from Ye Xiu like a kid!

"Huh? About what?" Ye Xiu gave me a deadpan look from his computer. Talk about ruining the mood.

"My match of course!" I frowned.

"Oh. Good job. But you should improve on…" Ye Xiu went on and on about all the stuff I didn't do very well on.

"Ugh!" This guy! I gripped his head between my two hand and tried to crush this man's skull with my bare hands.

"Oi. Oi! No violence. It hurts! It hurts! Help, I'm going to die! (要出人命了!)(1)" Ye Xiu yelled while trying to remove my iron clasp. Everyone in the room quickly rushed in to stop me from creating a bloody murder scene.

x

Happy was taking shape too over the month too. Ye Xiu and Wei Chen chatted about things no one else could understand whenever I stopped by when I needed a break from my work. I didn't feel too bad since everyone else lived there had no idea what the two shameless old guys were muttering most of the time too. What the two ranted about must not be all nonsense since they were able to create many silver equipment during this time period.

However, because the two made many silver equipments, the team's vault of rare material supply was getting depleted steadily too.

"XiaoBaiBai, do you have any more materials stashed in your account somewhere?" Ye Xiu asked on the same day I arrived back from defeating Liu Hao.

"No. I gave you guys everything already." I said as I trapped YiFan in a bear hug while sulking about how Ye Xiu didn't have reaction towards my match. I was expecting praises. When your expectation was up there, and reality was down there. The gap between the two was disappointment. The bigger the gap, the bigger the disappointment. And I was very disappointed by the outcome.

"Miss Wealthy Investor, do you think you can convince some of the teams to sell you some materials we need?" Ye Xiu continued to ask.

"Tsk! How shameless can you get? I just got a steady job. Asking me for money already. Can't you see I'm having a moment sibling moment with YiFan here! Shoo! Shoo!" I waved Ye Xiu off like he was a fly while still clung to YiFan. "YiFan, I know you respect him a lot and everything, but don't pick up any of his personality. You will never find a girlfriend if you become like that."

"Sis...you make God Ye sound like he is some kind of bug or a contagious disease." YiFan said with an uneasy smile.

"You never know! Make sure you wash and sanitize your hands often. Take a shower before bed to get rid of his shameless germs." I grip YiFan by the shoulders and looked at him in the eyes with a serious expression.

"Ahaha. You just got called a bug and contagious disease." Wei Chen had a good laugh on the side.

"You are not any better." Ye Xiu simply grinned smugly at the older man.

* * *

(1) 要出人命了! - literal translation is more like "someone is going to die." Usually used in cases when someone did something bad and made someone else really angry; angry enough to kill. The first someone might yell 要出人命了! So the by passers might call the police or stop the violence.

* * *

Bonus Scene:

Ye Xiu came to visit me in the loft above the internet cafe later in the day. I stomped out of Happy's apartment earlier because if I stayed there any longer, I felt like I would actually murder Ye Xiu.

"What?" I hissed at Ye Xiu through a crack of the door.

"I brought mung bean popsicles." Ye Xiu tried bribe his way in.

"Humph. What do you take me for? A kid?" I rolled my eyes and shut the door.

"I guess I will just have eat them all before they all melt." Ye Xiu turned around to leave without another word.

"Wait, wait, wait! Didn't you come here to beg for my forgiveness?" I opened to door and chased after the popsicles. I was speechless. This guy was terrible at apologizing! He probably wasn't even sorry. The other's probably forced him to come over with a peace offering.

"I got you to open the door now, didn't I?" Ye Xiu turned around and smirked victorious.

"Just give me those before I hurt you again." I ripped the wrapper off and started to nibbling on the icy treat.

"I appreciate the thought, but there is no need for thoughts of revenge in the future. I would be happier if you just enjoyed playing Glory for yourself." Ye Xiu ruffled my hair and handed me the plastic bag with other mung bean popsicle.

"You and your love for Glory... How much do you love Glory?" I slapped away his hands and smoothed out my hair.

"I could play the game for another 10 years without being tired of it." Ye Xiu answered with a fond smile that he rarely shows.

"You have them out for too long! They are all starting to melt." I whined as I tried to eat my melting popsicle as fast as I could.

"It's your fault for trying to keep me out. Let me help you finish them up before they all go to waste." Ye Xiu reached into the bag for a popsicle.

"Oi! Hands off, didn't you get these for me?" I slapped Ye Xiu's hands away.

"Can you eat all 6 of them in the next few minutes?"

"Is this a challenge?"

I fell for Ye Xiu's taunt and later ended up with a really bad brain freeze.

* * *

A/N: Thank you for all who have reviewed in the last few chapters! Work has been very rough lately, reading all the reviews really helps make my day sometimes. :)

Thank you all for the continuous interested in the story!


	56. Preparing for Challenger League Finals

Very busy this week and the next. Minimum edit. Sorry! Please enjoy anyways. Miss C.

* * *

Boom! Thump! Boom!

High leveled Elementalist attacks were cast one after another. My attack send my opponent rolling on the ground from the shock waves.

"Naomi is being super aggressive today. Will her aggression pay off or backfire?" The announcer yelled into the mic.

Did I dislike the other player. No. Did the other player offend me in anyway? No. Did they still my dessert? No. The reason why I was so aggressive with my play style was because today was 4/5.

4/5 this year was QingMing Festival. Today was the day to visit the graves of family or close friends.

But because it fell on a Saturday this year, I was stuck in a different city for my guest match with Parade. Instead of going to visit Su MuQiu with Ye Xiu and SuSu together, I was made to fight a pointless battle for other people's enjoyment. I was frustrated by everything today. Now, I was directing all my anger towards the Qi Master, whose name I didn't care to take note of, in front of me.

Under the covers of the flashy magic skills, I closed the distance between the Qi Master and I within seconds and quickly finished off the rest of his HP with Rising Dragon Soars the Sky.

GLORY!

However, the word that flashed across my screen didn't make me feel any better at all.

When my opponent walked on stage to shake my hand after the match, he looked like he was holding back tears. He probably was wondering what he have done to offend me. Did I feel bad about it? Maybe only 1%. I was still 99% in a bad mood.

x

"What's wrong?" Old Man Han stopped me when I stepped off the stage after the exchange of generic polite words post match.

"Nothing." I replied in a pissy tone. I dared to say Old Man and I looked like we could be related because we currently both wore a similar frowning expression on our faces.

"Maybe it's her that time of the month." I overheard Zhang JiaLe whispered to Lin JingYan off to the side. I send over a glare and Zhang JiaLe looked away while pretending to whistle.

"You sound hangry. I will buy you food after the interviews. Wait for me here." Han WenQing said sternly.

"Che. Food won't make me feel better right now. Don't treat me like a kid, Old Man." I humphed.

"There is KFC nearby the hotel, Brat."

"Oh. They have the Pikachu toys with their meal sets right now." The guy really knows me too well sometimes.

"Just like a kid." Old Han smirked victoriously while walking onto the stage for Tyranny's post match interview.

x

The interview ended pretty late, but that's not a bad thing. The KFC was deserted when the five of us went after changing into less conspicuous clothing. Old Han, Zhang XinJie, Zhang JiaLe, Lin JingYan, and I got each got a meal set at KFC so I could get all five toys. I was pleasantly surprised that I got all five different toys. That could have be due to when Old Han made the order, he stressed that he wanted five different toys. With a face like his, who can refuse him. Either way, I very happy with the results.

"Aren't you going to eat?" I asked when I saw Zhang XinJie was the only one out of the five of us who haven't touched his food when we sat around Old Han's hotel room.

Why Old Han's? Well, he had the biggest and nicest room out of all of us. I was half tempted to ask if I could just crash on the sofa bed tonight since my hotel was super crappy and had cockroach crawling out of the electrical sockets.

"It is 10:30pm. It's too late to eat anything so high calorie. It is easier to get fat when -" Zhang XinJie spoke while pushing up his glasses.

"Well you are breaking the heart of the farmer who raised this chicken. Don't waste food." I stopped Zhang XinJie from talking by stuffing his fried chicken sandwich into his mouth.

Old Han pulled me immediately to his side like a father with an disobedient child.

"Hey! That hurt Old Man! Take this!" I yelled unhappily when I fell on my butt. For revenge, I took a fingerful of ketchup and smeared it on Old Han's cheek.

Zhang XinJie wore an bewildered expression but ate the sandwich as he was told. Zhang JiaLe just snickered at my handiwork and made fun of Zhang XinJie. Lin JingYan just smiled at the group of people and handed Captain Han a napkin.

x

4/12 was one of the best days of my life.

"This is it! Both Naomi and Captain Yu Feng are using their level 75 skills to determine the winner of this match!" The host yelled during the climax of the battle.

The White Robed Witch and Blossoming Chaos charged towards each other in the center of the desert map. There was a blinding flash of white light when the two characters clashed, and then it was all over.

"Good match. It was really close in the end." Yu Feng, Captain of Hundred Blossoms, extended a hand to me on stage after the match.

"Mhm. Good match!" I smiled back brightly to the point it looked like I was sparkling under the stage lights. Yu Feng had to squint his eyes to a line because I was too bright too look at.

In my last match of the season, I lost to Yu Feng after a really close battle, but I didn't let him win too easily. I underwent a week of ruthless training with the previous number one Berserker in Glory, Sun ZhePing. Using what I learned from the crash course with Sun ZhePing, Ye Feng only won with 8% of health left. Even though I tried my best and got the best teacher for the Berserker class, Ye Feng's more plentiful experience helped him pull ahead in the end.

Was I disappointed that I was so close? Only a little, but I was more happy than anything. Why was I happier than the guy who actually won the match? Your first thoughts were probably Naomi finally lost all her marbles, but I'm still sane, thank you very much. Then why? Because it was the last day of my tedious guest matches. I don't have to travel around every weekend anymore!

Yea. Yea. I know I sound ungrateful for this wonder experience of lifetime that countless people was jealous of. I will admit this would always be one of the most memorable time of my life. This was great and all, but I was tired. You try to make a business trip every week. Your quality of sleep would be messed up, and you would be tired to the bones too.

Also, to be honest, I was running out of outfits to wear to these matches. I have been ordering a new outfit from Taobao every week to not repeat outfits on matches days. If you guys know me at all, I the type who prefer to wear sweats day in and day out.

It was a bit worried some that my major regular flow of cash would stop for a unknown period of time, but I can finally concentrate on the more important things in my life: my art and Happy.

Art projects have been piling up and deadlines were coming up. It felt like every time I tried to sit down and work, a outside force - coughYe Xiu/Happycough - would pull me away from my work. I know! What a nasty cough I have!

Glory Professional Alliance didn't waste any time in contacting me about my plans for next season either. They had already expressed an interest in keeping me doing guest matches. I was unsure about doing all of that again though. I asked them to let me think about it and get back to them by the end of season banquet.

x

Happy was in its final steps of preparation for the finals in the Challenger League. I had to do my part to help out too. Besides still financially supporting the team with my currently income, I took an active part of helping out with the rare materials from wild bosses that the team urgently needed.

Ye Xiu managed to use his good relationship with his guild alliance to initiate trades with the middle tier clubs for some of the materials from the normal servers. But for some of the more rare materials from the Heavenly Domain, no team in their right mind was willing to give those up. If no one was willing to sell them or trade them, then you just have to get your own.

I asked Ye Xiu and Wei Chen to make a list of what materials from what bosses they still needed from the Heavenly Domain to complete Tang Rou's silver weapon. Wu Chen and I would prioritize those wild bosses and materials over all others if they appeared. Day after day, Wu Chen and I worked together around the clock securing those materials for the team.

I had to take the lead in leading Happy in fights for Wild Bosses in Heavenly Domain. Wu Chen still had to practice for the finals in the Challenger League afterall. But being the responsible guy he was, Wu Chen left me all his notes and tips on the different Wild Bosses, dungeons, and battle formations. Finally, some weeks before the Challenger League finals, Dancing Fire Flowing Flames was born.

x

"How do you even come up with these names?" I asked Ye Xiu when he announced that the third silver weapon in the team was born.

"It just come to me naturally. Impressed?" Ye Xiu said like a proud dad.

"They are pretty corny." I shrugged. Wei Chen snickered off to the side.

"And the name White Robed Witch is cool? Sounds like a magic girl wannabe." Ye Xiu laughed haughtily.

"Hey I named her when I was in middle school! And her name is cool! Don't make fun of it!"

"Just for insulting my naming abilities, you are not allowed to come with us to the finals." Ye Xiu decided on the spot.

"I wasn't planning to go anyways. The alliance is not playing for my plane ticket, hotel, and meals. Why would I waste money like that? Besides this will be a great opportunity for me to finally get some peace and quiet, and to finally get some work done since someone kept on pulling me away to help them and their team out, you ungrateful bastard!" I expressed all my pent up anger in one go.

"Sis. Breath. You are turning slightly purple." YiFan stepped into the fight.

"Ugh. I feel lightheaded." I leaned on YiFan for support.

"Hehe. What an idiot." Ye Xiu send me an amused look.

"Let me hit him! Let me just hit him once! Once will be enough" I yelled as YiFan held me back with all his strength.

Sometimes I wonder if my maturity was regressing the more time I spent time with Ye Xiu.

x

Everything finally quiet down on 4/19. I saw everyone from Happy off from the apartment complex. For the first time in forever, I finally had some peace and quiet to myself.

During the month that everyone from Happy was gone, I did not log on to Glory at all. I was finally able to sit down and work on various projects I had on my hands.

First, I finished the 1st drafts of character designs for the two light novels series. The drafts were sent back to me with notes on what the editor and author wanted to be changed. Second, I finally finished the long overdue drawing for Little Lu's character, Flowing Cloud.

I posted the finished work to weibo and also send the full resolution one to Little Lu in a private chat. The kid was so lovable. He didn't mind that it took me almost half an year to finish the art piece at all. He was just so excited that it was done.

[Sister Naomi made my character look so cool!] Lu HanWen bragged to his seniors. He also liked and commented to my weibo post and reposting to his own page. Then the other Blue Rain players also came to like, comment, and repost. Then somehow, my Weibo became like the pro player's chat and they started to trash talk each other. Well, it was also the end of the season, so the trash talking between the teams was necessary.

Just having one pro player make a comment on a personal weibo page was a big deal. But to have about half of all the Pro Player to like, comment, and repost. Well, let's just say I ended up with way too many notification emails in my mailbox that I had to delete by the pages. But I couldn't complain about the free publicize.

x

Every day for the month, I would have the challenger rounds and commentary streaming on a second monitor while I worked. If Happy's matches were available, I would of course be tuned into their match. But if they weren't playing, I would watch Excellent Era for SuSu. If both of them weren't playing, then any match would do.

Devoted to my craft, I worked at least 12 hours a day, seven days a week, with minimum breaks. If Sister Chen didn't have her internet cafe employees to check up on me at least 3 times a day, I think I would have missed many meals and most likely would have passed out from hunger and dehydration.

All my hard work paid off though. Before Happy's big match against Excellent Era in the Challenger League finals, I turned in my 2nd drafts for the character designs for the light novel series, and they all came back approved. Yay! With the character designs decided, drawing the rest of the illustration will be a bit easier.

x

The day before the Challenger League Final round. I packed up a small carry on and headed to the airport. I made enough progress on all the projects that I didn't feel bad at all about going to to City B to watch the finals in person.

Even though I told Ye Xiu I wasn't going because it was a waste of money, I had already planned to go and surprise them in advance. No one from Happy's team or guild knew I was going to be there. I can't wait to see all their expressions when I surprise them.

I got the ticket for the match even before it was available online, courtesy of Lin. Although, I might or might not have promised Lin a meeting with the elusive God Ye after the match. Anyways, it was a good thing that Lin knew someone from the company who could get us tickets in advance because the tickets sold out as soon as it became available. Sometimes, it really was all about who knows who in this world.

* * *

Extra Scene:

Because Sister Chen, SuSu, and Ye Xiu all went to the cemetery together on 4/5, I went to visit Su MuQiu by myself again. From the flower shop just outside of the cemetery, I bought sunflower this year. I remember SuGe was a very cheerful person, so the sunflower suited him.

"Wow, it has already been almost a year since my last visit. So much have happened. I have so much to tell you." This time around I was much less awkward talking to SuGe's small tombstone. I placed my flowers next to the bright and strange flower that SuSu most definitely have picked out over the weekend.

"Let's see. I went from working for Glory Co. to being fired over some online rumor. I live in City H now. Sorry I haven't visit you sooner. I been helping out with Ye Xiu's new team. I'm sure he and SuSu probably told you all about that. He been ordering me around to get this material from this boss and that material for that boss. Oh! I think you'd be proud to see how well I can fight now. I can hold my own weight on a team and haven't caused a team wipe out during dungeon runs. Haha, but I shouldn't jinx myself. But, Ye Xiu has been a real slave driver. I think I could go crazy sometimes."

"Oh yea. I'm a special Glory guest at events now. By some miracle, I even won against some of the pros! But it wasn't any easy feat. They were all really tough. It really has been an eventful year for me. Happy's offline matches are coming up soon. Wish them the best!"

[Where are you ShaBaiBai? A wild boss appeared. I need some materials from it.] Speaking of the slave driver, he showed up.

"See? This is what I have to deal with for the last few months. He is a slave driver I tell you! Please do something about him if you can. Can you make his toilet not flush when he have a number 2 or untie his shoes lace often or something?"

[ShaBaiBai. Where are you? Why aren't you replying?]

"Alright I should go now before he uses my own little brother against me. I hope it doesn't take me another year to come and visit you again. See you next time SuGe."

[I'm out doing some business. I will be back in a hour.] I replied to Ye Xiu while rushing back.

Su MuQiu smiled in his picture as he always have.


	57. Dear Students, Please Hush

A/N: Sorry for the minimum edit again for this chapter. Please read the note at the end. Thank you.

* * *

Don't ask me how I decided on this look. Somehow I ended up looking like a transfer student from an English university or something when I put on the disguise.

I wore a simple long sleeve button up blouse with a necktie, and a green tartan skirt. Long black thigh high socks and a pair of vintage looking, close toe, faux leather heels. I hid my natural hair under a lace front a long ombre silver and black wig that I put into two long braids over my shoulders. And of course to complete any disguise, I wore a pair of large circular lense glasses. Oh, I think I figured out where I went wrong...

"You look….young." Lin commented weakly when I stepped out of the guest room.

"T-this was on purpose! No one would recognize me this way." My argument was equally weak.

"You stuttered…" Lin looked at me with eyes of pity.

"Come here." An Chen called me over and put something on my head. "Since you already look like this, it won't hurt to wear this headbow too. Ah so cute! Before you go, let me take a picture!" An Chen cooed while snapping a few pictures on her phone.

A bit before 7PM, Lin and I made our way to our seats. I was surprised that even though it was still more than an hour before the match, the stadium was already packed and noisy. I never understood why people would pay huge amount of money for seats so far away when you could a better view of the fight from a monitor in the comforts of your own home. But, I finally understood! This type of atmosphere can really get anyone excited. People all around were talking about who they think will win and how the match will go.

The stage was already fully set up. For this match, the Pro Alliance had decided to pull out all the stops. They even were using the new 3-D technology to display the match. I can't wait to see everyone's character on this stage!

"How does it feel to be on this side of things?" Lin asked while admiring the atmosphere too.

"I feel like I'm here with my dad." I joked.

"If it wasn't for the meeting with a certain god afterwards, I don't why I deal with you sometimes." Lin shot me a look.

By the jerseys and banners, it was obvious that many people here were Excellent Era fans. From the talks I overheard all around, most people think Happy was a pushover team. Most people believed that Ye Xiu was the only strong player in Happy, and everyone else was chopped liver. However, there was a small group of people far away from where I sat that openly supported Happy. They were waving big bright banners to cheer Happy on. Those people were Happy's guild members in game.

I had already found out their plans of coming here tonight while hunting wild bosses with them. They had invited me online to come City B and celebrate with them afterwards. I told them no because I already made plans beforehand, but I also wanted it to keep it unknown so Happy fans won't blow my cover. I could imagine the rowdy group would seek me out at the stadium and brag to the other audiences if they knew I was here.

7:30PM sharp, the whole stadium dimmed. Both of the teams walked on stage and were introduced. I watched all of Happy's player walk on stage through a pair of binoculars I brought along for the event. You could tell the huge difference between Excellent Era fans and Happy fans by the amount of cheering and booing from the crowd. I wanted to cheer among all the booing when Happy's members stepped on stage, but Lin was quick to stop me.

"Stay calm, Xiao Wang." Lin reminded me.

"I know." I whispered back. I knew even if I cheered, it would make no different to Happy anyways. They can't hear me from way up here. There was a high chance my cover would be blown no matter how good my disguise was.

After the team introduction, the matches finally started. First up was Tang Rou from Happy, and then Mo Fan. Tang Rou and Mo Fan's match didn't last too long against Xiao ShiQin since they both lacked the experience to fight a veteran. One of the Master Technicians of Glory at that. Wei Chen went up next, but lost after a hard fought battle too. It seemed like I had looked down on Xiao ShiQin too much when I met him over the summer; I didn't realize he was this strong.

"It's God Ye Xiu!" Lin yelled along with rest of the stadium. He shook me by the shoulders in pure excitement when he saw who was going on the stage next.

I wondered what kind of battle the two Master Technicians would put on. Ye Xiu and Shao ShiQin exchanged a few blows, but once Xiao ShiQin's Life Extinguisher ran out of mana, he forfeited with a GG. How...anti-climatic.

Even though Xiao ShiQin forfeited early on while fighting Ye Xiu, no one was upset with the results. Xiao ShiQin just won 1 vs 3 against Happy. Excellent Era's fans cheered when Xiao ShiQin walked from the player booth to the team seating area. I clapped quietly in this deafening crowd. Although I wasn't happy that the guy put Happy into such a huge disadvantage, I couldn't deny his talent either.

Next up from Excellent Era's side was a youngster named Qiu Fei.

Qiu Fei actually fared pretty well against Ye Xiu in the beginning; his only mistake was playing the Battle Mage class. Ye Xiu was just too familiar with all the ins and outs of a Battle Mage. With the unpredictability of a true unspecialized character, Ye Xiu turned the battle around easily. Currently, Ye Xiu was using Vanishing Steps to slowly drain away Combat Form's life.

"Did you see? It's God's Vanishing Steps!" Lin yelled excitedly, yet again, as he watched Grim Lord bullied the younger player's character on the big screen.

"Showing no mercy. So shameless. He is going to leave a dark shadow in that boy's heart. I feel so bad for this Qiu Fei." I shook my head at big screens. Even though the kid was an enemy, I felt bad for him. I wondered if I should send the kid an anonymous fruit basket at Excellent Era's club house once this was all over.

"Che. What bullshit are they talking about." Someone behind me said in disdain rather loudly in the current tense stadium out of the blue. I jumped at the sudden voice.

"What's up?" Another male sitting besides him asked.

"Those two guys said Qiu Fei missed three chances." The first person said.

The people behind me continued to discuss about the current battle while I tried to watch the match in peace. It was a bit annoying. This was like the people behind you chatting when you were in a movie theater while trying to watch a movie.

"But these guys are too noisy!" The first male complained at one point to his friend.

"It isn't noisy right now, right?" The second person replied and the two continued to chat. Then, they dragged a third person into their conversation too.

I was very irked at this point. The noise died down in the stadium long ago; all the noise was coming from them now. I found myself listening to their conversation more than I was able to concentrate on the match in front of me.

I turned around and glare at the troublemakers, the three of males immediately shut up and pulled down their caps lower to cover their faces. My first reaction was, 'Che. Trying to be cool by wearing hats in a dark stadium like this.' I also noted all three males were young and close in age. They also wore the same tracksuit. Based on their ages, it wasn't too outlandish to guess that they were from the same college or somethin.

"Students, you are being noisy." I said to the young people sitting in the row behind Lin and I.

"Sorry." The three apologized in unison when I turned back around. The three remained quiet until the end of Qiu Fei's fight.

The crowd cheered loudly when Sun Xiang walked to the player's booth in a rather arrogant manner. Even when the battle began, I felt the anger bubble within from Sun Xiang's conceited attitude.

Sure Ye Xiu was acting shameless as always by hiding and casting recovery skills on himself. I'm sure if he was allowed to bring potion into the match, he would be downing those too right now. However, I was currently more bothered by Sun Xiang's egoistic attitude. He actually told Ye Xiu to take his time to heal up? Weren't you looking down at Ye Xiu too much kid?! I'm nervous for you. You have just dug your own grave!

"God Ye is using healing skills? Ah? A Wish Prayer?" Lin said like a brokenhearted teenage girl after a breakup.

"Ah yea. He actually does stuff like this all the time..." I rubbed my cheek in embarrassment as I told Lin the truth. I didn't know how comfort Lin currently and just gave him a few light pats on the back. I could tell God Ye's perfect image was shattering to pieces in his heart. "Look! They started fighting!" I tried to distract Lin.

"Che! I can't listen to this crap anymore!"

"What is it this time?"

"They said that there was no reason to One Autumn Leaf's Sky Strike just now."

The talkative student sitting behind me started chatting again. They seemed to disagree with some of the things the commenters were saying on the live webcast. Once again, I found myself listening in on their conversation. I didn't mean to eavesdrop on purpose; I just happened to sit in the direction the soundwaves traveled.

Ah, so if Sun Xiang didn't use Sky Strike, then he wouldn't have been able to block Ye Xiu's Collapsing Mountain at the beginning of the fight. I was gaining a bit insight into what was going on during the battle by listening to these three students.

"Commentators nowadays are getting so unprofessional!" The boy who talked the most of the three said.

To make a bold claim like that, then these three must more well versed in Glory than those people on TV. Then, these aren't ordinary fans or players. If they could analyze the fight better than commentators, then are they super Glory fans like Lin? Nah. Pro-players? Maybe. My brain concluded. For the rest of the match, instead of focusing on the exciting match in front of me, my brain started to search through my memories to try to figure out the identity of these three people. Two of the voices sounded like people I knew, definately people from Tiny Herb. But, I couldn't figure out who the third person was.

Ye Xiu only had 0.03% of health left after winning against Sun Xiang. I wasn't too surprised that he left the players booth immediately after the match. Sun ZhePing was send up next from Happy as their last man for the group match. Well, there goes any hope of seeing my brother perform in this portion of the competition.

Excellent Era send up a striker player next from their side. From the start, this player's skills seemed paled in comparison to the old god's. Excellent Era's player was taken down rather errorlessly by Sun ZhePing in just a few moments. With that, Excellent Era had to also send out their last players for the group match. For their last person in this segment of the matches, Excellent Era send out SuSu.

I didn't know why this choice was meaningful to Excellent Era at this moment, but I could tell it was decided meticulously to hurt Happy, Ye Xiu, and SuSu. My heart broke when I saw SuSu's expression when she walked to her player's booth. Ye Xiu also showed an enraged expression and walked to Excellent Era's team area to talk to their boss before returning to his seat with an unreadable expression. What was going on down there?

"Xiao Wang." Lin warned and grabbed me by my arm before I fell over the row of people in front of me by trying to walk over the row of chairs.

I was so worried about what was going on in the team area, I didn't even realize that I had unknowingly stood up from my seat while still looking through my binocular.

"Is everything okay?" Lin asked worriedly when he saw my expression.

"I-I don't know. Something seems wrong." I whispered to Lin while the crowd goes wild for Su MuCheng and Dancing Rain.

"Maybe you are just worrying too much."

"I hope so."

Sometimes I wish my intuition wasn't as accurate as it was. I detected something was wrong when I saw SuSu's expression when she stepped into the players booth. I also felt something was wrong when her playstyle seemed more explosive and aggressive today. In the end, SuSu won the group match for Excellent Era by one point, but she wasn't happy with her win at all. My suspicions were confirmed when SuSu typed a message for the world to see after the group match.

"My time at Excellent Era ends here."

This simple message shocked the whole stadium, but what shocked everyone the most was what she did afterwards. She didn't bat an eye at Excellent Era on her walk off the stage. She walked right passed Excellent Era and straight to Happy's team area. She sat next to Ye Xiu and cried into his shoulder.

Who made my little sister SuSu cry? I wanted to run down there and beat up whoever made her cry this very moment!

"What is going on? Xiao Wang, do you know anything?" Lin stared at the stage confused like the rest of the fans in the stadium during the break between the group and team matches.

"I knew things aren't good between her and Excellent Era, but I didn't think she would do this." I bit my lip. "Do you think we can go visit them during the intermission?"

"Sorry. I don't have any contact who can get us down there." Lin shook his head in regret.

Things would be solved if someone in Happy had their cell phone on them. But for the duration of the match, all their electronic devices had to be kept in the team locker areas to prevent cheating. You know like to prevent a teammate from texting the enemy location from outside the player booth or something like that. It seemed like I will have to physically go down there and talk to Happy and SuSu to get answers.

During the intermission, I dashed out of my seat and fought my way through the sea of people to get to the backstage area. I decided that nothing would stop me from trying getting down there. Nothing except for the security guard.

"Ma'am. You have to go back to your seat. No unauthorized personnel from this point." A security guard thawed my plan early on when I tried to sneak into the teams' locker rooms and such. But this just meant I was getting close.

"I'm Happy's team investor. I think I have a right to see to them right away." I argued back.

"...You are not on Happy's the official team roster. You can't go inside." The security guard just gave me an unimpressed look like he had all the possible excuses from fans since he had this job.

"Look. Can you just grab Chairman Feng. He is here tonight right? He can vouch for me. I'm not just some random person." I kept on pleading.

"Chairman Feng is a very busy man. He isn't someone you can see because you called him by name." The security guard shook his head.

"Look." I leaned in closer to whisper to the security guard so the people around me wouldn't near me. "I didn't want to say this, but I'm the artist, Naomi. The same Naomi who designed the initial Project Glory figures and fought in all the guest matches against the pro teams!"

The guard seemed to examine me and whispered back, "I didn't want to say this earlier either, but I'm Wang JieXi."

Really? I took a step back and took a good look at the guard. The age, height, and body shape was all wrong. The security guard and I stared at each other.

"You...don't believe me at all!" I realized.

"Ma'am, please return to your seat or you will be escorted out of the stadium." The guard said coolly.

* * *

A/N: I really have the worst luck with computers. I'm serious like the electronic breaking goddess. My main computer broke down (after about less than 3 month of being built) about a week ago randomly on top of being busy with work and other real life problems. After having someone look at it, they said my SSD died. Ugh...thinking about all the lost data and programs (again) makes my head hurt.

TWRW be taking a break for ~2 weeks to get my computer data and life piece back together (as much as possible anyways).


	58. Introducing the One, Two, Three, Trio

A/N: PSA: This chapter will contain drinking alcohol consumption. The author does not encourage drinking with the chapter. Remember, never drink and drive!

* * *

"I can't believe that security guy." I growed in irritation as I kept slamming coins into the coin slot of the vending machine.

"XiaoWang..." Lin tried to get my attention.

"I told him my real identity!" I started to push buttons on the machine once I ran out of coins.

"XiaoWang!"

"And he didn't believe me!"

"XiaoWang?"

"And he also claimed to be Wang JieXi!"

"Oi. Earth to XiaoWang."

"He was obvious making fun of me!"

"XiaoWang. Stop." Lin grabbed my hand that was slamming buttons on the vending machine out of frustration.

"What!" I directed my anger to Lin.

"You just bought 5 bottles of water." Lin pointed to the bottled waters in the dispenser.

"Oh. What is a lot of water." I was so busy slamming own coins and pressing buttons, I didn't realize I somehow ended up with 5 bottles of water. If Lin didn't stop me, I probably would have bought more water tonight. I could use some retail therapy right now, but this wasn't the type of retail therapy I was thinking of.

"So what are you going to do with 5 bottles of water?" Lin asked.

"You want a bottle?" I offered one to Lin.

"Sure. I will take one. But if you drink the other four, you will definately be running to the bathroom all through the team match."

"True. Such a waste to toss them too. I think I might be able to give them away. Let's had back to our seats." I had an idea.

x

"Here. Do you guys want a water? You guys must be pretty thirsty from talking so much during the group match." I offered the water to the three people I was looking for.

I was glad that when I returned to my seat, the three people sitting behind me, who were carefully hiding their faces under their caps, were there too. During the first half of the match, I figured out two of those three people. I had spend a few month getting know them after all, so I was confident in my guesses.

The third person's speech didn't sound familiar to me. I could only assume it was a new addition to the team after I stopped going to Tiny Herb. Using the power of deduction, it was obvious who that person was too. Between the 8th and 9th season, two people left Tiny Herb and one transferred in.

"No thanks." The three answered together, while pulling down their caps and hiding their faces in their zipped up tracksuit.

"Even though I bought them specially for you guys? You are breaking your Sister Wang's heart."

"You are Sister Wang?" Gao YingJie perked up first at my name. He seemed excited after finding out my identity. The other two peeked at me a bit curious under their caps, Sister Wang could only mean one person.

"You don't look like her at all in this getup." Liu XiaoBie stated after looking at my outfit.

"You mean I don't look good as a schoolgirl?" I faked a cute, puppy-eyed, innocent pout. I had to bite back a laugh at the grimacing face Liu XiaoBie was making.

"I didn't know you were into cosplay. I think you look very good!" Gao YingJie praised. I was almost 100% sure that Little Gao secretly snapped a picture of me while we talked. I hoped the kid never turns evil and decide to blackmail me with that pictures later on.

"How did you figure out it was us?" Xu Bin wanted to know.

"Any one with half a brain who had heard you guys' conversation about the match would know. Xiao Liu also said Xiao Gao at one point, so I was pretty sure it was you guys." I gave them my reasoning.

"And who is that with you?" Xu Bin asked about the uncharacteristically quiet man besides me who was staring them with stars in his eyes and drool at the corner of his mouth.

I could tell in this moment, Lin was trying really hard to not squeal in excitement. After my departure from Glory Co., Lin haven't had as many chances to travel to the teams and meet pro-players. I was sure that all of Lin's suppressed fandom in the last couple month was on the verge of erupting, but Lin was trying his hardest to keep his fandom contained. Lin knew very well that he would blow not just mine, but also the three from Tiny Herb's, cover if he started to squealing like a fangirl on top of his lungs at this moment. Too much was at stake, so I appreciated the Lin's every effort to remain as calm as he could in this moment.

"Oh. This is Lin. Some of you have met him before." I introduced. Lin got to shake hands with the three Tiny Herb players. I handed out the bottled water to each of the Tiny Herb pro-players afterwards. Since now they know my identity, they accepted the water more willingly with a quick thanks.

I chatted with the three a bit longer about general things in life until the intermission ended.

"So you bought the extra water for them, eh? Smooth." Lin flashed me a knowing smile when the lights around the stadium dimmed again.

"Oh hush." I elbowed the older man in the ribs.

x

The second half the match started out slow. Excellent Era ran directly towards Happy's spawn spot, and Happy dove into the forest at the start. The two teams played hide-and-seek for a while. Excellent would be led by the sounds of Wu Chen's shots, and Happy would strategically retreat. You chase, I hide. But then, at the most unexpected time, the two sides finally clashed.

Ye Xiu pulled the two Battle Mages from Excellent Era, Sun Xiang's One Autumn Leaf and Qiu Fei's Combat Form, away from the team and kept them distracted. I couldn't help but to let out a small smirk. The attackers were probably thinking that in this situation of 2v1, Ye Xiu would be easy picking at the moment. But if anyone who was actually paying attention to the godview, instead of watching the flashy show Grim Lord was putting on, you would have noticed Ye Xiu is drawing Sun Xiang and Qiu Fei farther away from the rest of team. Hook, line, sinker.

x

The rest of the match happened within 15 minutes or so. But so much stuff happened within those few minutes. Characters from both side began to be killed off one by one like in a game of chess. You take my Cleric, I take your Launcher. I, along with the rest of the audience, was hooked to every moment of the battle. These few short moments felt like it went on forever. In the final few moments, One Autumn Leaf and Combat Form took out Steamed Bun Invasion and One Inch Ash with shadow play. Then Ye Xiu took out the rest of Combat Form's HP with some Anti-Tank Missiles and a grenade.

Finally it was just Grim Lord and Little Cold Hands versus One Autumn Leaf on stage. I felt my breath hitched when I saw Sun Xiang charged at Ye Xiu. Grim Lord's health drops as he was knocked into the air, only able to guard against One Autumn Leaf's attack. I was only able to breath again when well timed flash of holy light covered Grim Lord, reversing all the damage that was just done and plus some. I could only have guessed how Sun Xiang had felt in that moment. Fake hope that was immediately followed by despair.

[Didn't I tell you? Glory isn't a single player game. Now...Sun Xiang, what do you think?] Ye Xiu typed into the public chat.

[Yes...Glory...isn't a single player game.] Surprisingly Sun Xiang replied without attacking Ye Xiu. Even more surprising, One Autumn Leaf left the stage unexpectedly.

For a moment, everyone couldn't figure out what had happened. Did Sun Xiang get disconnected from the system? In this modern day and age, that was almost impossible, right?

Well...that was anticlimactic. I was expecting a final showdown, and the rest of the stadium was too. No one could believe that Sun Xiang just gave up when he still had over 40% health left. But, that's exactly what happened. The referee announced that this was no computer error. Sun Xiang had forfeit, and Happy was the champion team.

x

"They did it!" I jumped to my feet and chanted with many others in the stadium. "Happy! Happy! Happy! Happy!"

"Congrats." Each of the Tiny Herb players behind me said while also getting up on their feet. They were getting up for a different reason though. They were leaving the stadium ahead of the crowd, just to make sure they didn't get found out by accident.

"Later." Xu Bin said while making his way out.

"See you." I replied.

"We look forward to facing them next season." Liu XiaoBie whispered to me while passing by.

"Don't cry when they beat you, Students." I said back haughtily while poking fun of their disguise.

"Bye Sister Wang. Captain said you should visit sometimes before you leave City B." Little Gao said cutely before following his seniors.

"Why would I go there again?" I rejected the offer right away.

"He will buy you a matcha cake he says." Little Gao added.

"Okay. I will be there sometimes." I changed my attitude immediately.

Little Gao nodded towards me before leaving with the other Tiny Herb players.

"Your weakness to food is going to get you into trouble." Lin chuckled from the side.

"I know! It seems too many people have discovered my love for food and my favorite foods. This could be dangerous." I thought about the problem seriously.

"I need to keep a close eye on you or you just might go marry the first person to offer you a lifetime KFC and cakes." Lin let out a heavy sigh.

"I-I'm not that hopeless." I retorted.

"You sure? I'm sure I heard you stutter there. Oi, you are drooling!"

"S-shut up…but a lifetime of KFC and cakes wouldn't so bad." I said dreamily. Lin just shook his head at me.

x

With Happy's brilliant victory in hand, a grand celebration afterwards was necessary. I didn't know where or when; I just knew it was going to be happen. After the award ceremony, I told Lin to hurry up and follow the group of Happy Fans with the big banners out of the stadium. I didn't want to text anyone on the team or guild for the time and place because that would ruined the surprise.

The Happy Fans found their way to the backdoors and mixed together with the team members, and talked about going to find a place to accommodate the big group. Lin and I followed in a distance, but was quickly noticed.

"Why are you guys following us?" A lively guy from the group called Lin and I out.

"Ah. We are Happy fans too. Go Happy!" I shouted in a high-pitched voice while striking an exaggerated anime-like pose. Lin shot me a weird look. What? I have to play the role of a teenager girl; it's hard work.

"Ah, more Happy fans. Welcome! If you and your daughter want to join us, don't need to be sneaky about it! It's alright, right Sister Chen?" A guy that seem to be the leader in the group yelled.

"Sure. Sure. More the merrier." Chen Guo yelled from the center of the crowd.

"Ah yea. Thanks." Lin and I exchanged a look and let out an awkward cough. And this was how Lin and I successfully infiltrated the party.

x

The large group found an open private room in a fancy restaurant a block or two from the stadium. Once everyone was seated around the table, and food and drinks were ordered, I decided to reveal my secret identity then. Also, the wig was getting really uncomfortable in this warm humid weather anyways.

"Ahaha! Surprise!" I suddenly stood up and pulled off my wig and wig cap off. My messy hair fell around me. "Are you guys surprised? Hehe."

"The cute girl was actually a hag in disguise?"

"Cosplayer?"

"I knew it was too good to be true that a cute young girl like Glory."

Happy fans around the table expressed their disappointment.

"Naomi!"

"Wang JieJie!"

"Eh?! Sis?"

"Heh. I thought you weren't going to come."

"Oh, you again from All-Star weekend."

Various Happy team members voiced their recognition from across the table.

x

"Why are you dressed like that?" YiFan came running towards me trying to cover me up, mostly my legs, in his team jersey.

"EHH!? You are goddess Naomi?" Happy fans around the table yelled in surprised. "We greet the great ice goddess!"

"It's a disguise, I fooled everyone here didn't I? Ahahaha!" I laughed. I was pretty satisfied with the overall reaction I got from everyone. "Alright, who called me a hag and not cute?! Come and receive your punishment!"

"Ah! We are sorry!" The few people who spoke badly of me in the beginning looked like they would fall at my feet if there was more room.

"Punishment shots! Drink! Drink!" I went around the room and filled their shot glasses to the brim. The few didn't delay chugging their glass.

After all the food arrived, everyone seemed to line up in front of Ye Xiu, wanting to toast him. It was all fine and dandy until people started to yell, "What happened? What happened?" and "What did you put in the drink?" Everyone, including Lin and myself, circled around Ye Xiu to see what the commotion was about.

"He... is a bit of a lightweight." Sister Chen explained to everyone.

"Ha! He is even worse than I am! Passing out in only one shot. Tsk tsk." I laughed. I can't believe there is someone with worse alcohol tolerance in the world than me! You guys have no idea how happy that made me.

"Oh? Can we toast you then, Goddess Naomi?" People waiting in line to toast Ye Xiu looked at me with hopeful eyes.

"Sure Sure!" I was in a good mood today, so why not? What was the worst it could happen.

I sat in Ye Xiu's chair after Sun ZhePing carried Ye Xiu to a couch. Little SuSu followed suit to take care of that guy that passed out from one shot. Ha! So weak!

"Let's drink!" I yelled as I toasted with the next person in line.

x

I'm not sure how much time has passed after I started drinking. At one point I lost my balance and tipped from the chair.

"Whoa. She is already super tispy." Sun ZhePing steadily me when I started to tilt his way.

Strong arms caught me in time though and placed me next to Ye Xiu. The liquor was stronger than expected. I'm sure I still did better than Ye Xiu though.

"Is 2 cup better…?" Someone in the room asked.

...Don't burst my bubble boy! In all seriousness though, two was definitely better than one! It's double the amount!

"She… is also a super light weight." Lin coughed awkwardly.

Shortly after this event, Sun ZhePing was also shoved onto the cough which the SuSu, Ye Xiu and I already occupied. For the rest of the night, Ye Xiu, Sun ZhePing, and I became known as the one, two, and three, trio.

x

Extended Ending:

"By the way, are you Naomi's dad?" Someone asked a stupid question later in the night when most people were tispy or just plain drunk.

"OMG! We greet Goddess Naomi's dad!" Almost everyone in the room freaked out and bowed their head at Lin. Some people almost fell over in their drunkard state in the process.

"PUNISHMENT SHOTS!" I yelled loudly from my spot squished between Ye Xiu and Sun ZhePing.

* * *

A/N: Good news, bad news.

Good news: computer is fixed after putting in a new solid state hard drive. Yay.

Bad news: all data on the other hard drive is lost. -_-;;; the original art files for all TWRT are all gone...so sad..

Good news: I save all my writing to google drive since last time I had computer problems so all the chapters and notes are still there! So new chappie even though I said I wouldn't update for 2 weeks! :D

Bad news: Next update will not be this weekend and will be the weekend after. So hopefully this slightly longer chapter will hold you guys until then!.

Off-Hand Good news: my dog is fine now. It seemed to be an allergic reaction of sort from a bad bug sting or bite. He have a bald patch around the area, but other than that he is completely fine now. :)

* * *

Thank you for all the reads and reviews while I have been away! Special thanks for the read, review and love from Malaysia. Hope this chapter was fun to read!


	59. Cakes and Spa

Early update for this weekend. Will be out of town this weekend. If I have time this weekend from my trip, there will be an extra update this week :)

* * *

I was so jealous of Happy! After winning the Challenger League finals, everyone on the team all went to enjoy a the fanciest spa in City B for a week. I heard, they only managed to get into because Young Master of Heavenly Sword pulled some strings for them. Happy did invite me to go with them - Sister Chen wasn't a frugal person after all - but I had to reject the offer with a heavy heart because I had business things to handle in City B this week. This was also why I was camped out at Lin and An Chen's for the week.

I had a second meeting with Glory Co to go over licensing issue once more. Hopefully they will give me better terms this time around. I did a lot of homework with Lin this time around. It seemed like the usual licensing fee for a major company was usually about 15%-30% of sales on top of an initial application fee. Lin had found me some data from some other well known gaming and animation company. With these hard evidence in hand, I felt better about tomorrow's meeting.

x

I was absolutely fuming after my meeting with the legal department at Glory Co. I felt blood rushing to my head; I felt like I was going to burst a blood vessel. If I collapsed at Glory Co's door steps, I wonder if I can sue them for physical and mental damages.

"No. 50% is the best we will do." The same sleazy corporate pig in a suit said in a snobby voice.

"Isn't that a bit unfair?" I was losing my temper. I had shown them the hard data, but they didn't even glance at it. I hated when people wouldn't listen to reason.

"Heh. Are those games and animations as popular as Glory? What do you think the other companies can compare to Glory Co.?" The lawyer spoke in a condescending voice like Glory was the only popular thing in the world. "If don't get the licensing from us, you can't make anything. No figure, no artwork, no nothing. If you try to make anything under fan work, we will proceed with legal actions. I assure you, we are being quite generous with our current offer already."

"No. I'm not going to take those terms. If this is all for this meeting, I will be leaving." I grabbed my bag and made my out.

"I won't see you out." The lawyer smirked behind my back.

"Deep breath, Naomi. It's not worth it." I inhaled deeply from my nose and exhaled from my mouth. I felt my heart rate slow down a little. Why didn't I just go to the spa with Happy when they had offered? "I could use cake right now." I lamented.

Thinking of cake, didn't someone had offer me cake?

[Are you still offering that cake?] I typed a message and send it off quickly.

[Sure. Come by Tiny Herb tomorrow.] Wang JieXi replied back shortly.

At least tomorrow would be a better day.

x

I wished I could send out daggers with my eyes at the moment. I glared at Wang JieXi who sat next to me on the couch nonchalantly sipping his tea and enjoying his slice of cake. It was his fault that I was stuck in this meeting with Tiny Herb's boss that was sprang on me. I should have known better that the free cake came with a conditions. I could only blame my own greed and gluttony.

"Miss Naomi. How nice of you to drop by. You are just the person I wanted to talk to about this." Tiny Herb's boss said in a pleasant tone.

"What did you want to see me for?" I was rather stiffly in comparison.

"We are interested in commissioning you for a project for Tiny Herb." Tiny Herb's boss was still all smiley, smiley at this point. That was suspicious, suspicious in my opinion.

"Glory Co. have their own official artist. Why not just contact them?" I was straightforward.

"Well the fans are more familiar with your work. Glory Co is busy with their own projects. They don't have time for small projects like this. This isn't better though? We can also cut down the middle man. More for you and more for us. Won't you hear our terms?"

"I suppose hearing what you have to offer won't hurt." I liked the idea of cutting out the middleman a lot. My mentality right now was pretty much screw the big corporation! Screw Glory Co.!

"Good. Good. Tiny Herb is planning to update our official Tiny Herb Team Handbook. I want you to be the illustrating artist for character images inside. I think 25k RMB for commissioning you for the project is a fair price. This is a pretty good deal isn't it? What do you say." Tiny Herb's boss tried to tempt me like a calculating demon.

"Can I get this on writing? I want to read the details and fine print. Do you have a timeline of when you need things done? I have a few other projects I'm already working on, I need to see if this will fit into my schedule." I said unhurried. This didn't sound too bad, but if I learned anything from Lin in the past year was there was almost definitely at least one trap in any deal.

"Of course. Do let us know soon though. You shouldn't let a offer like pass by. Why don't you go go see our players in the practice room with Captain Wang? I will have someone deliver there in a bit. Captain Wang?" Tiny Herb's boss's smile turned rather stiff at the end. He turned around and made a call to have the documents prepared for me.

"This way." Wang JieXi put down his empty tea cup and directed me out of the office.

x

"This is a headache. I blame you for this." I rubbed my temple after leaving the office with Wang JieXi.

"Why? It seems like a pretty good deal." Wang JieXi smiled innocently my way.

"I'm sure only on the surface. Are you in on this too? What now? Is your boss leaving you and the rest of the team to butter me up for this deal?" I said sourly as I followed Tiny Herb's captain the various hallways to the practice room.

"Something like that. But everyone here is excited to see you again."

"You owe me a cake."

"Oh? Why's that. You just have some in the office."

"Che! You have the nerve of bring that up. I didn't even get to eat a bite of the cake if you had noticed. I think I deserve an apology cake since you tricked me to coming here." I grumbled. In the end, I spend the whole time chatting with Tiny Herb's boss and never got a chance to eat my slice of cake in the office. Well good thing it was just grocery store bought cake, and wasn't a fancy one.

"That can be arranged." Wang JieXi agreed almost too easily in my opinion.

"I want one from Dream Cakes." Of course I had to get the most expensive kind to punish this guy for his trickery.

"How about a seasonal fresh honeydew melon cake from Dreamy Cakes?"

"Sounds good! You already said it yourself, no going back on your words. Pinky promise!" Anything seasonal or limited edition really catches my attention.

"No problem. We got one already. We will have it in a little with the team."

"How did you know I'd agree to that cake?" Even though I was getting delicious cake, I felt like I was tricked again by this guy.

"It's not that hard to guess your thoughts, Student Naomi." Wang JieXi shrugged and smiled.

I felt a chill down my spine. These Glory pros that were good at tactics were too scary! Can they predict the stock and housing market too if they tried? Wait…"I knew it. Little Gao did secretly take a picture! He showed it to you? Ugh, when I see that kid, I'm going to give him one hell of a noogie." I cracked my knuckles to warm them up.

"Student Naomi, I don't appreciate it when you threaten Tiny Herb's seedling."

"You are not going to stop calling me Student Naomi if I ask just asked nicely right?"

"Nope." Wang JieXi smiled rather widely.

"Fine. Fine. How about you stop calling me Student Naomi; it gives me the creeps. Also, make sure YingJie deletes that picture and never share that picture ever again, then I will let him off the hook." I sighed.

"That can be arranged."

Wang JieXi and I came into an agreement and shook on it.

I left Tiny Herb with the paperwork after having some delicious cake with the team. I attempted to read through the terms of the contract over some tea at a random chain tea shop. Like I had fully expected, the contract written in the most roundabout language that was too difficult for me to understand. I felt my brain circuits overheating and frying after reading the same first few sentences over and over again, trying to make any sense of it. I needed Lin for this.

No point of wasting time moping and doing nothing, I decided I need a few hours at the spa to relax and unwind. I will relax there a bit until Lin gets off from work so I can talk to him about the contract offered by Tiny Herb. I need some R&R really badly right now anyways. I called Chen Guo up to see if she can get me in for a few hours.

x

I was currently sipping green tea and chatting with YiFan about all the services in the spa I wanted to try before having to leave. It was like a rich man's amusement park here. I already had a relaxing soak in the man-made hot spring, but there were still many other things to try: the full body massage experience, the fish feet spa (1) with "doctor" fish imported directly from the middle-east, the cedar enzyme bath (2) with the cedar shavings imported from Japan, a meditation class by some trending instructor in an indoors zen garden were just a few to name. After looking over the fancy services and fees, I could only think, darn, these rich people have way too much money and time on their hand.

"What's got you so stressed out? I recommend the massage here. It's pretty good here." A relaxed Ye Xiu dressed in the standard spa bath robe joined YiFan and I at our table unannounced, and helped himself to a cup of tea.

Since Ye Xiu brought up the topic, I complained to him what I already complained to YiFan about earlier. "Those big corporations are bullies! But I don't know what to do." I sighed out of frustration.

"Opportunities will come to those who are prepared. Didn't Tiny Herb just offered you something?" Ye Xiu held my gaze and said sternly.

"Yea, but there is 150% chance it could be a trap!" I rebuked.

"You are too suspicious of everything. But I don't blame you either. Tiny Herb is the home of that sly Big Eye Wang."

"Eh? Who is sly?"

"Someone needs a beating? I can help!"

"..."

"Have you been here long, Xiao Wang? Sorry we were stuck in the fish pedicure until now."

x

Everyone from Happy seemed to show up all at once.

"This was great timing! I have something to give to all of you as a congratulatory gift." Seeing everyone's faces, I just remembered that I never did give Happy their gift after winning the Challengers League since almost everyone got very drunk and some of us even passed out.

"You got us an all expense paid for trip to Hawaii for the team?" Wei Chen suggested randomly. Where did this guy get that idea out of the blue?

"You are going to pay for our spa?" BaoZi joined in the nonsense.

"You bought Happy a lot of wild boss materials?" Ye Xiu chuckled while looking at my way with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"None of the above. Where did you guys get such weird ideas from?" I was a bit bewildered by all their weird suggestions.

"Then don't we need it." The three guys said together, like they had been rehearsing this line or something.

"Never mind then!" I crossed my arms and humphed. My good spa mood was ruined in an instant. These punks! Do they really only see me as their giant wallet? I want to cry so badly.

"Sis. The seniors are just teasing you. Don't be mad." YiFan came to hug me. Only my brother cared! But that was all I needed. I clung to YiFan for comfort.

"Eh? She isn't going to pay? Che. Cheapskate." BaoZi, who couldn't read the mood, said out loud everyone to hear.

"..."

"Don't mind him Naomi! You know how BaoZi is. Tell us what you got us? I'm excited!" Chen Guo cut in before I went berserk and put anyone in mortal danger.

"I'm excited for your gift, Sister Wang." SuSu also came to give me a hug.

"When Happy makes an official team handbook, I will illustrate for you guys for free." I said while looking at each of their faces for their reactions.

Shock, unfazed, happiness, indifference, confusion. The expression on everyone's face all varied.

"Thank you, Sis!" YiFan gave me another hug.

"That would be so amazing! Thank you! This is great, isn't it Tang Rou? MuMu?" Sister Chen was so overjoyed.

"En." Tang Rou and Su MuCheng nodded happily.

"You better make my Windward Formation look majestic!" I couldn't tell if Wei Chen was joking or serious. Windward Formation? Majestic? Those words seemed to be mutually exclusive. A contradiction. Not possible!

"Thank you, Sis." YiFan said cutely. I ruffled his hair out of habit. My brother was just so cute.

"...oh..."

"Is this suppose to be a cool gift?"

Mo Fan was indifferent to the topic as ever. BaoZi seemed a little confused. They both just walked away to chill at another part of the spa.

"Oh, these are not bad."

"My character is going to be drawn too?"

An WenYi and Luo Ji, who were not familiar with my works, exclaimed after finding my weibo.

"Haha. That will save us a bit of money finding someone else to do it." Ye Xiu laughed a bit obnoxious as usual.

"Do you have a moment? I have so many ideas in my head on how to do this handbook already! I also have some ideas about future Happy merch. Let's talk about it while we get buried in wood shavings together." Chen Guo grabbed my hands and looked at me with stars in her eyes. It seemed like she already planned things out 10 steps ahead.

"Ok! Let's go." I readily agreed. It was better than hanging out with those shameless old things named Ye Xiu and Wei Chen.

* * *

(1) A spa where tiny fish nibble on the dead skin of your feet.

(2) A spa where they bury you in very warm, very fine wood shavings. Suppose to help remove toxin from the body.


	60. Naomi's Got No Chill

Back in the States. Why I am updating at like 2 in the morning? Idk, probably going crazy xD

* * *

Today was an important day. Which day was that you might ask, well it was the day for Happy's Official Team conference! Being the good sister and the self proclaimed Happy's number 1 supporter, I tagged along with the team to their conference. Lin, who missed his chance to talk to Ye Xiu last time at the aftermatch dinner, was invited to tag along too. Apparently after I passed out, he and Sister Chen hit it off pretty well. He had offered her a few marketing related advice so they were almost like best of friends now.

"Stop fussing. Why does it seem like you are more worried than us." Ye Xiu flicked me on the forehead when I started to smooth out the wrinkles like a mindless robot for the nth time. But, I was too distracted to argue back with Ye Xiu at the moment.

Currently, we were all waiting in the waiting area for the Team Myth to finish up their portion of the new team conference. Team Myth's conference was streaming live on the little television in the room. Many of the Happy's members were watching the other team's introduction and were very relaxed. Su MuCheng was eating her sunflower seed like usual at Ye Xiu's side. But somehow I was more nervous than the ones going on stage! To keep myself busy and my mind off things, I went around checking everyone's uniform over and over again for wrinkles and imperfections.

"I'm not worried. I'm totally calm. Calm like a clam." I blabbered nonsense with a stiff expression and moved on to the next person's jacket. Mo Fan tried to slap my hands away, but gave up after a while.

"Happy. You are up soon. Please get ready." A backstage staff came to let Happy know team Myth was almost done.

"Oh my god." I felt like my heart was ready to jump out of my chest. Are the press going to make trouble for Happy? How will the Glory fans react to this team? Will there be a lot of flaming online? My mind went through all the worst possible scenarios. I started to freak myself out.

"Sister. Breath. You are hyperventilating." YiFan tried to calm me down by rubbing circles on my back.

"I will take her for some air." Lin offered and helped me out of the small room that seem to close in around me by the second. "Come on now Xiao Wang. Breath with me. Hee, hee, hoo."

"Hee, hee, hoo. Wait. Isn't this the breathing used during child labor? What are you teaching me Lin?!"

x

When Lin and I returned from getting some fresh air outside, Happy's members were already seated neatly on stage. SuSu met up with us and watched the interview from the backstage area.

"They will be okay, right?" I asked rather worriedly and chewed on my lower lips until it was raw.

"Yup. He will take care of everything." SuSu squeezed my hand.

I made a deadpan face that I wasn't sure SuSu saw. Was Ye Xiu being here suppose to comfort me in someway? How could I not worry since everyone current on Happy's team was required to attend, which naturally included Ye Xiu and Wei Chen together, the troublesome duo. I was worried - also interested but mostly worried - to see how much of mess the two would make on stage.

x

The presses were on them like piranha with cameras. From what I learned, Ye Xiu never showed his face on any media before today. For 10 years, Ye Xiu remained a mysterious figure in Glory. I guess the reporter were finally getting their fill of pictures, revenge, and questions today. But they do realize since Ye Xiu was now accepting interviews, so there will be more chances in the future right?

The interview structure and questions were all pretty expected. After the team introductions, Sister Chen spoke some words, then Ye Xiu's speech.

"Why does this sound so familiar?" Lin rubbed his thought as he listened to Ye Xiu' opening speech. He pulled out his phone and put in a few keywords into the search engine.

From my peripheral vision, I saw Su MuCheng let out a knowing mischievous grin.

"Why are you asking me?" I shrugged, but took a guess based on SuSu's smile anyways. "I wouldn't be surprised if he used the first new team speech he found on Baidu. He doesn't care for the media coverage at all."

"God Ye….." Lin had tears covering his face (泪流满面)(1) like a teenage girl who got her heartbroken by her first love when he found that Ye Xiu used Heavenly Sword's speech word for word from last year. From the reporter's uniformed deadpan expressions, it seemed like they have figured it out too.

"There, there." I patted the older man on the back half-heartedly. His expectation of this great god was too high. He should be more like me, and lower all expectations down to zero, or into the negatives. The lower the better!

Compared to Team Myth's interview session, Happy's interview dragged out for a lot longer and was a lot more interesting. Since the mysterious Ye Xiu had tormented all the reporters for the past 10 years, all the reporters decided to get all of their payback today. Many burning potato topics were tossed at Happy, or more specifically at Ye Xiu.

I have to admit that the reports were all trying very hard to slap Ye Xiu's face. They brought up many unpleasant topics like fall of Excellent Era, Happy's players team wage, and I was even brought up in the interview.

"What is Naomi's relation to Happy? She have posted many character drawings from Happy team and Happy guild. Is she Happy's official artist?"

"Haha. Do you think we can afford pay someone like that? We are poor!" Ye Xiu announced with a lighthearted laugh.

"AH!?" The reporters and viewers exclaimed when they first heard Ye Xiu's choice of words. Then, all the shocked expressions all turned into deadpan expressions after everyone digested the explanation. Sister Chen looked she wanted to hide under the table right now. He really have no shame! Why was this guy so troublesome?

"Oh then! Could that mean!?" A young sharp reporter, who probably liked gossiped a lot, immediately picked up some possible hidden meaning. "God Ye, there is a rumor that there is a love triangle between you, Han WenQing, and Naomi. Do you have any comments on that?"

"Heh. Like you said, it is just a rumor. Do I have to comment on that? Besides, there would never be a love triangle because there is no competition." Ye Xiu smiled broadly at the cameras.

Old Ye, you will give them the wrong idea! I screamed internally.

After a while, the interview session was getting so long that the Alliance press office had to step in. The media could not complain one bit since they already got a lot of good stuff to talk about.

x

After Happy's interview, Lin and I went with Happy for another night of celebration. The dinner was just as extravagant as last time. The only difference this time around was everyone made sure Ye Xiu and I stuck with tea and juice.

At the end of the night, Wei Chen and BaoZi once again somehow drank themselves to oblivion. The restaurant staff had to politely ask us to leave because the two drunkards got too rowdy. After making sure everyone from Happy was safely heading back to their hotel, Lin and I headed out in a Taxi too.

"So what do you think about that commission offer?" Lin asked out of the blue during the car ride.

"I think there is a trap somewhere in the contract, I just can't figure it out from the convoluted wording."

"I have taught you well to be cautious." Lin patted me on the shoulder like a proud father. "We will work on a counter offer together tomorrow."

With the help of Lin, I handed in a revised contract to Tiny Herb that was approved before I left City B. The commission price was actually lowered to 20k RMB. But instead, I was going earn 1 RMB for every print and reprint that sold. The contract also fines Tiny Herb 2 RMB for any and every future redesigned team handbook and materials they sell that contained any of my artwork or designs.

1 or 2 RMB seemed like low numbers. That's probably why Tiny Herb approved the new conditions without batting an eye. Lin estimate that with all the Tiny Herb fans and my fans together, I would make back the 5k RMB and much more on top of that in no time after the handbook release.

On my Weibo, I added Tiny Herb's team booklet to my list of projects I was going to start to work on. Tiny Herb's fans were ecstatic, and other team's fans were envious. Thus, a team war discussion started on my Weibo shortly after my update.

x

With all the work I picked up, Happy only saw me once or twice a week online. I only have been showing up when Wu Chen needed extra help with any urgent Wild Boss material that Ye Xiu needed. Other than that, I haven't seen anyone, besides YiFan, online or offline for a while. I lived my days peacefully until the day that Ye Xiu and Su MuCheng had stopped by the Internet cafe and popped my peacefully daily hermit life.

"Come and take a walk with us across the street. We need to grab MuCheng's stuff from her dorm." Ye Xiu opened my door and let himself in uninvited. Chen Guo probably gave him a key.

"No. Don't feel like it." I didn't even look up from my computer monitor.

"It will be fun to take a break. Look how beautiful it is outside." SuSu smiled brightly. She opened up the curtains I had closed to avoid glares on my monitor.

"Hm… let me think about it. Still no." I said in a flat tone. I winced a little from the sudden flood of bright light and monitor glare, but other than that I continued to move my tablet pen rhythmically across the tablet surface.

"MuCheng. Do the thing." Ye Xiu said mercilessly. Before I know it, my pen was snatched out of my hand and my drawing tablet unplugged from the computer. I had a grab for my drawing tools, but Ye Xiu held me down to the chair by the shoulder.

"Whoa there. Easy girl. Let's talk about this rationally. Why did you need me to go again?" I tried to talk down MuCheng. She current was holding my poor tablet pen as hostage over the trash can full of trash. What did my poor baby ever do to you!?

"Because you need get out and absorb some sunshine. Look how lovely the weather is today!" SuSu smiled innocently as she held my precious tools over the trash can.

"Sunlight is overrated. Now hand me the tools and let me get back to work. I have a lot of work to do guys." I begged. I attempted my best puppy pout.

"Not until you agree to come with us." SuSu cheerfulness contrasted with my solemness.

"An easy walk with us or you having to clean rotten banana peel off your pen. Heh. Take your pick." Ye Xiu put the final nail in the coffin and sealed my fate. Both she and Ye Xiu wasn't even fazed at my pout.

"Fine. Fine." I resigned and glared at the two kidnappers. Why didn't I take out the trash last night?

SuSu was the number one goddess of Glory? Ha! She have all of you fooled! She was more like the number one female troll of Glory. She took after Ye Xiu too much sometimes. SuGe were you watching any of this? Look how your best friend had corrupt your younger sister!

x

Walking through the previously all mighty Excellent Era wasn't what I expected. Instead of giving off an aura of awe of a Glory powerhouse team, the building felt like it was already abandoned. I felt rather sad walking through the halls of a team that had so much history, and that once held three championship titles.

"You guys go pack up. I'm going to take a look around." Ye Xiu said to us girls at a fork in the hallway.

"Okay. Sister Wang, my room is this way." SuSu grabbed my hand and pulled me down a hallway.

"Will he okay?" I didn't miss the reminiscence look on Ye Xiu's face when we seperated.

"Yup. He is the strongest person I know. And we are here! Ta-da! This is my room. Well was." SuSu said with a slight forced a strained smile while tossing open a door.

"SuSu. You sure have a lot of stuff for one person." I glanced around the room. It was pretty standard for a girl's room. Plushies, pastel colored bed sheets, and a huge closet full of clothing.

"Then you better start helping me pack." Su MuCheng grunted as she carried a giant pink suitcase to the center of the room and pop the lid open so we can start putting things into it. "I will start with the closet if you want to grab the miscellaneous things for me by the table over there."

I walked over to the table and started to collect various things that littered across her desk. There were many romance genre novels and manga. Most of them about of the BL genre. Honestly, I wasn't too surprised by this girl's taste anymore.

x

I stacked the books together and moved on to packing up her laptop. By her laptop, I noticed a photo frame. The fame was kept clean and was put in a place where she can see it everyday; it must be important to her. Curiosity got hold of me. I held the photo frame to get a better look at the picture inside.

"I see you found that picture." SuSu skipped over and looked at the picture fondly. The picture was of Su MuCheng, Su MuQiu, and Ye Xiu smiling happy together. They all looked teenagers, so this picture was taken a long ago.

"It's a good picture." I handed the picture full of meaning to SuSu. She packed it carefully into a separate backpack.

"But you know what could make it better? We should PS(2) you into this then it will be the perfect!"

At this point I don't know if Su MuCheng was trolling me or not. It was a good thing that something else got my attention.

"What is this!?" I exclaimed at the mess piled in the suitcase.

"What? I finished packing." Su MuCheng ripped off the last few article of clothing from the hangers in the closet and tossed on top of the pile. "Sit on top of this while I try to zip it up." She grunted as she tried to push down on the suitcase with her whole body weight and the clothing on the edges looked like they could spill out any moment.

"Alright, stop. Stop. All your clothing are going to be wrinkled at this point. We should fold them neatly to prevent that and save space." I told her to stop trying to close the suitcase before she hurts herself.

"I just want to get out of here as soon as I can though." SuSu pouted.

"I know how you feel. So you better start folding." I said as I tossed some of her clothing her way to have her start folding.

Even when Su MuCheng tried, she was terrible at folding. In the end I folded 80% of her things while she only managed 20%. I wondered what kind of life she had when she was still treated like a celebrity at Excellent Era. Did they satisfy her every whim like she was a modern day princess? That could explain somethings like, "Why do you have so much clothing?"

"Eh? I always thought your closet is bare and we should go shopping sometimes!"

"Eh? Is it necessary?" Back then, I didn't know what I had gotten myself into when I agree to go cloth shop with the number 1 Glory goddess, Su MuCheng.

* * *

Extra Scene:

The next issue of any eNews was an exciting one for many fans. There were many hot topics revolving around Happy. From the front page to the last page, an article regarding Happy could be found. The topics ranged from "Ye Xiu is Back!", "Happy Prepared for One Year for Match Against Excellent Era", "Happy United by Love for Glory Alone?", "Naomi Works for Happy for Free?", and "Ye Xiu Possibly Confirms Currently in Relationship with Naomi?!"

"YE XIU!" I roar while ripping the news paper in half after reading that last headline. I couldn't help but to throw the newspaper on the floor and to stomp on it a few times too.

"Achoo!" Ye Xiu sneezed and felt a strange chill down his spine somewhere. He rubbed his nose on the back of his hand. "I hope I'm not getting sick." He mumbled before going back to playing Glory with any care in the world.

* * *

(1) A descriptive/fancy way of saying to cry or to burst into tears. The saying just sounds cool and makes one sound smart.

(2) PS = Photoshop


	61. We All Scream for Ice Cream

Happy 60th chapter! Please read author's note at the very end/bottom of the story thank you!

Warning: minimum edit

* * *

The next two weeks were quite noisy for me. Let's see. A lot happened and it all started out after SuSu and Ye Xiu had dragged me to Excellent Era. We went in with three person, but somehow came out with four.

"RongFei. Naomi" Ye Xiu simply introduced as he pointed to each of us and said our name.

"Nice to meet you." I mumbled to the disheveled looking guy.

"Same." He mumbled back out of obligation.

"XiaoBaiBai. You are currently not using your account right?" Ye Xiu asked as we walked to Happy's apartment.

"Mhm yea. Very busy lately. What's up?" I asked as I adjusted SuSu's heavy backpack on my back. I only tagged along back to the apartment because SuSu had a lot of stuff to carry. Does Ye Xiu look like the type of the guy who would help? Nope. No chance at all when he could just pawn it off to other people.

"Can let RongFei here study your equipment for a while then?"

"Him?" I made a face. The guy looked like he was homeless. Would he run off with my account card and try to make a fortune with it?

"He is trustworthy." Ye Xiu seemed to read my mind. "He might not look like it but he was part of Excellent Era's R&D team, and a very reliable and capable guy. He likes silver equipments."

"Old Ye said I could…" RongFei seemed to shot Ye Xiu a disappointed look. Ye Xiu must have made some promise to the guy before asking me.

"I...don't mind. Please be careful with her equipments." I sighed in resignation and handed my account card to RongFei.

"Of course. Of course." RongFei's eyes sparkled like an anime girl. He accepted my card with both hand like he was just given a lottery ticket for 1 million dollars.

x

When Sister Chen found out Happy was expanding again, her expression went from joyous to concerned to horrified. She was already worried about the lack of computer. At the speed Happy was growing, where should she put the R&D and the Team's Guild departments. On that day, she decided to renovate the second floor of Happy Internet Cafe again.

The very next day, Chen Guo called up contractors to look the second floor's current layout. This time she would close it off completely from public access.

"Sorry. Please bear with the renovations for a few weeks." Chen Guo begged me with her hands clapped together in front of her face when she showed up at the cafe with the contractors.

Sister Chen was being too generous. I was just living here for free out of her good grace. I had no say in whatever she wanted to do to her cafe. "It's all good. It's your place." I told her before sitting down to work again.

Thus, renovation of the second floor started shortly after that day.

The renovation was still going on when I left for the end of season banquet, which was held again in City S this year since Samsara won the championship again. I was glad to get out of the cafe since the sound of banging and drilling was becoming unbearable even with sound canceling headphones and music blasting.

Sister Chen had invited me to stay over at the apartment with them for the time being, which I greatly accepted after the first night with the construction crew there. But they didn't have enough computers at the apartment with the new additions to the team; it was a lot easier for me to work back in the space above the cafe. My setup was too difficult to move however, and it was already too cramped at the apartment with the number of people and equipments .

x

At the end of season Glory banquet, I finally gave everyone my long awaited final decision.

"I appreciate all the kindness and support that I have received from everyone this season. It felt like I lived in someone's dream for the last year. It was a memorable experience that I will treasure forever. However, I'm here today to announce I will not be appearing for guest matches next season. I am different than all of you here in the end. I could never be a pro player - I'm too old to start. I am an artist, so I should be more like an artist. I thank you all for your time and tolerance this season. I bid you all goodbye on this stage. If there is any interest in commissioning me, please send an official request to my weibo." I bowed deeply to every in the Glory Professional Alliance at the end of year banquet.

I was expected to be kicked out of the event by the Alliance right away, but people clapped supportively all around instead. Even though many people I had come to know over the last season hated seeing me go, they still respected my decision. There was a crowd of people who wanted to talk to me after my speech.

"You are not quitting Glory are you Big Sis Naomi? I will still see you in game sometimes right?" Lu HanWen rushed over and hugged me around the middle. He buried his head into my dress and sniffled.

"I'm not quitting Glory. Yea, we will definitely play together again. Let's play with Little Blue too." This kid was just adorable. Lu HanWen in a little tux was a bonus! I hug him back and smoothed his back. He was the perfect size to hug too! I could just pack him up and borrow him for the summer.

"But we will probably have to fight each other when that time comes. We are in two official opposing club guilds now." Lu HanWen stated a bit sadly.

"So what. Isn't it more fun to fight each other than fight side by side?" I patted the kid on the head. Lu HanWen wipe his tears and snot on the sleeve of his tiny tux and nodded.

"Hey Little Lu, stopping act all cute so you can eat her tofu! Come here." Huang ShaoTian jogged over and tried to pry Lu HanWen off my person.

"Nooo! Let go!" Lu HanWen only hugged me tighter.

"Let's Little Lu be!" I protected Little Lu like a mother hen while fending off the golden eagle. (1)

"Ahhh! I'm trying to help you Naomi! Don't you see what that sneaky little kid is doing? You are so ungrateful. I know! Let's PKPKPKPK. Last time we had a 2v2 and I didn't get to do 1v1 with you. You should feel honored that you get this chance for free! Hahahaha! Do you know how much I get paid per match?" Huang ShaoTian was chatty as usual. "Hey Captain. Perfect timing! Are you hearing this? Little Lu is slacking and going in game to play around. Kids nowadays. No discipline." Huang ShaoTian clicked his tongue and complained to Captain Yu, who followed the commotion.

"Didn't you just suggest the we PK in game just now?"

"But senior pretty much said the same thing just now."

Little Lu and I reported bluntly to Yu WenZhou, and shot Huang ShaoTian a pointed look at the same time. Huang ShaoTian looked away pretending to whistle.

"It is always sad to see someone talented as you go. But good luck to you." Yu WenZhou chuckled at all our interactions before praising me.

"Talent? Are you sure you are talking about the right person Chaptain Yu?" I smiled and shook hands with Yu WenZhou.

"Captain Yu is right. You have more talent than you give yourself credit for. I look forward to see your growth as an artist and work in the future." Wang JieXi also came over to my table to give his blessing and offered me his hand to shake too.

"Sister Wang should let us know if you ever stop in City B!" Gao YingJie, eyes full of tears, came to over to hug me too. Little Lu was still latched onto me and refused to make any room to YingJie. I might be imagining it but YingJie and Little Lu seemed to have an intense fight with their glares and might have even let out a low growl like raccoons fight over food.

"Jeez. You guys make it seem like I'm dying or something." I shuffled Little Lu around, despite his cute pouting, and made space for YingJie. YingJie clung to my dress as I rubbed circle on his back to comfort him.

"Perhaps we could commission you if there is a chance?" Lou GuanNing, representing everyone from his team, came over to pay his respects too.

"Of course. Just submit a formal request to my weibo." I shook hands with Little Lou.

"...Good luck…" Zhou ZeKai said with a slight pout. His eyes seemed to say he wanted a hug too but there was no room for a tall guy like him with the two kids already latched on to me. In the end, he chose to held out his hand for the standard handshake.

"It's a good decision." Old Man Han patted my shoulder and nodded his head in approval. The two kids at this point, feeling the overpowering presence of Old Han, scattered and looked for protection under their respective captains.

"Oi Naomi! Do you know if Old Ye is actually serious about being champions next season? He is only joking and only said it to get media attention right? I'm sure he is probably going to use this to get sponsor. Happy is poor right? Is it true that everyone played for free up until now?" Huang ShaoTian asked a question that was on everyone's mind. Everyone in the crowd, actually make that in the room, looked at me expectantly.

"He seems pretty serious about winning it next season. Aren't you all aiming for the champion title too?" I tried play it off like it wasn't a big deal. From the looks on everyone's faces, I could tell everyone present felt various degree of threat from my statement.

x

"So, should I like leave the group chat now?" I asked to break up the awkward silence in the room. Besides, I didn't belong in the group from beginning, wouldn't it be awkward if I overstay my welcome?

Everyone around me finally seem to came out of their stupor at my question and looked at a certain person expectedly.

"No need." Old Man Han decided for everyone.

"Can you make that decision?" I blinked at him.

"Yea. I'm one of the active mods in the group after all." He said straightforwardly. Oh, that does make sense since he was from the first generation of Glory Pro Players. No wonder everyone was looking to him.

"Should you check with the other mods just in case?" He said one of, so there were at least one other.

"I doubt that guy will have any issues with it." Han WenQing humphed like he had a bad taste in his mouth when he mentioned the other guy. I wasn't dumb as a rock. I could figure out that the only person who can make him make that expression was his long time rival, Ye Xiu.

"Thanks everyone. So you guys want ice cream afterwards? I think there is a really famous one in City S nearby. I saw some really interesting flavors on their menu." I felt so blessed that everyone was so accepting and supporter of my decision.

"You still want ice cream? I saw you ate like 5 slices of cake. You still want to eat after so much? Where does it all go? How are you so thin? Your stomach is too scary. Is it a black hole? Are you an alien?" Huang ShaoTian blabbered on and on. Eventually, everyone started to mentally block him out.

I was starting to understand why Blue Rain didn't have any female players who wanted to join them. To me this source of the problem was pretty obvious, wasn't it? Who wanted to be verbally harassed by this guy for 24/7?

"Yea! Ice cream!" Little Gao and Little Lu yelled over the yellow monkey. They were excited for ice cream like kids should.

"...Yea!"

"What interesting flavors did you see?" Wang JieXi asked curiously.

"A lot. Here is there website." I pulled up the flavor menu on my phone. All the guys squeezed together to look at my tiny screen.

"Which one are you interested in try, Naomi?" Yu WenZhou said while looking through the list.

"I don't know yet. They all sound so good. I might just try them all."

"Indecisive as always, Brat." Old Han commented off to the side with a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. He wasn't a big sweets fan. No matter what ice cream flavor it might be, he wouldn't be interested. But this was my goodbye party, so I'm sure he will be there, and I will make him eat a bite somehow, probably.

"Blue Rain insists that we pay this time around." Yu WenZhou just had to open that can of worm.

"We can't have that. Tiny Herb insist we pay."

"Samsara…"

"Heavenly Sword should take care of all the seniors."

"Tyranny will take care of things."

And, let the fight for the bill starts again.

x

After the banquet, a huge crowd of people in caps, surgical face mask(1), and oversized sunglasses gathered at a certain ice cream shop in City S. The regular guests hurried their way out of the shop, scared that a local gang had shown up. It didn't help the fact that Han WenQing was front and center of the group, and his sour expression was prominent even through the mask. I guess it very much looked like a group of gangsters had shown up to make trouble.

Words about getting ice cream after the event traveled like wildfire. Some of the teams who tagged along weren't even sure who originally suggested the activity. In the end, all of the teams and their team members decided to go to the shop for an unofficial after party.

"You sure you don't want any? I got this black tea flavor you might like." I offered a cone to Old Han who was standing in the furthest possible corner from the ice cream bar.

"..." Han WenQing just pretended I wasn't standing in front of him.

"It's only ice cream. You won't die from trying a little. You act like it's poison." I pressed the ice cream to his lips while eating my own cone. After a minute, Han WenQing still only stood there with his lips sealed tight, but the ice cream was starting to melt.

"What a waste. Have it your way. But you are missing out." I sighed and gave up. Now, what am I going to do with two cone? Well, no point of wasting good food. After finishing my taro ice cream (2), I ate the black tea one too right in front of Old Han to spite him.

"Ugh!" Brain freeze. I held my head in my hand after eating the second cone too fast. When will I learn! But the black tea ice cream tasted so good like black tea milk tea! I guess it was all worth it.

"Idiot." Old Han smirked in satisfaction and licked the trace of melted ice cream off his lips. "That wasn't too bad I suppose."

"See I told you so!" I grinned up at the stern man.

x

After I finished both ice cream cones, I went to talk to the teams like a social butterfly to see if I can get any free ice cream from them.

End of the night, I had accomplished my goal of trying every flavor in the shop. Was that a good idea? Not at all. It was way too much ice cream for even a big eater like myself(3). I groaned as I suffered from the tummy ache in the latter part of the night. This might be too much information, but I sat on the toilet for the rest of the night(4). But hey, for better or worse, at least I can say I ended this Glory season with a bang.

* * *

(1) Like the mask you wear if you have a cold or flu. There are more cute/fashionable ones in the asian countries. Some celebrities will wear one with sunglasses when out in public.

(2) FYI: Taro flavor things are usual purple and can turn poop green, like grape soda =) Don't know why I made this side note now actually xD

(3) I was tempted to make a biology joke here about how Naomi is a macrophage. Since in geek it literally means big eater. I found it funny/clever, but my friend said it was a 'cold' joke/not funny at all….so it was taken out.

(4) Naomi is lactose intolerant like most Asian/Chinese. I think the number is like 90% of adults per google. She still loves her cheese and ice cream, but will suffer tremendously afterwards.

* * *

A/N: Can't believe we are at Chapter 60!

I have happy news, but it's also sad news. This seems a bit sudden because there is still one whole Glory season in the novel that I haven't covered. But after much planning and replanning for the plot, the White Robed Witch fanfic will most likely to ending probably around chapter 65.

My writing/story ideas as been suffering a bit lately since it almost feel like a chore sometimes to keep on writing. I think it will be for the best for me and the story to end it sooner than later. I hope the ending will be one that will suit the story and won't be too disappointing.

Thank you for everyone's reads and support thus far. See you in the next chapter!


	62. But I Don't Want First Place!

After the banquet at City S, I stayed at City S for another week. The following weekend was when one of the biggest ACG convention in China was happening: the CCG Expo. It wasn't exactly a figure exclusive convention, but a lot of the big Japanese companies will still be present and displaying a lot of their newer works. That, and I didn't have the money to go to WonFest this summer.

Finding various things to keep myself occupied during the week was rather easy. There were many touristy places to visit in City S. Before I knew it, it was already the night before the CCG Expo. I was very excited to go to the convention until YueHua reminded me of one teeny-tiny little detail that I had forgotten all about.

"Tada! Here is your cosplay for the event! What do you think?" YueHua showed off a mostly white outfit that resembled a lot like the one White Robe Witch wore in game.

"I'm not wearing that! I thought I was suppose to stay hidden? You might just pin a sign that says 'Naomi is right here' on me at this point." I pointed at the cosplay like it was one of those skimpy maid cosplays on taobao that deserved to be burned immediately.

"Psshhh. This tactic is called hidden in plain sight. With the white wig and makeup, you will just be one of the White Robed Witch fan. I'm sure you won't be only one cosplaying her at the convention. Have you seen how many people bought similar cosplay on taobao? No one will recognize you."

"What? People are making and selling White Robed Witch cosplay?" I was dumbfounded. When had this happen? I wasn't really into cosplay so I didn't follow the cosplay trend.

"Yea. Anything White Robed Witch is like huge right now!" YueHua opened up taobao on her phone and typed in some keywords. A list of merchandise varying from cosplays to acrylic keychains loaded on the page. And there was 34 pages of results. YueHua was right. On just one of the cosplay listing, 100 people had bought this cosplay in this month alone. "Why aren't you jumping on this bandwagon?"

"Don't remind me. I think Glory Co blacklisted me since the last time we went over the licensing issue. Ugh. Glory must have issued license to all these people to spite me."

"I doubt it. Glory Co is probably just turning a blind eye since these are all fan works. This is a pretty gray part of the law. If Glory Co wanted to come after them, they could. But the monetary value is not significant enough for the company to care about. It probably will cost Glory Co more money and time than it's worth to come after all these small creators." YueHua shrugged while urging me into the bathroom to try on the cosplay.

"What about me? I'm a small creator too!" I complained as I put on layers and layers of the cosplays. Why did I design the witch's outfit with so many layers again?

"You would actually stir up the market a lot if you put out your own line of the White Robed Witch products. That's why Glory Co is trying to stonewall you out of the market."

"How come you seem so much about the market and law?"

"I should know since I have a duo degree in business and law."

"What?" I opened the bathroom door after being all dressed. I thought I heard her wrong.

"Have I never told you? My parents send me overseas to get a duo degree in business and law." YueHua dropped that bomb rather casually.

"Oh my…" I gaped at YueHua like a unblinking goldfish. How could this be? Was this immature Zhou ZeKai fangirl actually some kind of genius?

"Surprised? If you ever need help with marketing laws, you can ask me. I can consult you for free. " YueHua grinned rather smugly at my expression. "The cosplay looks good on you."

"Why is your English still so bad when we first met then?" I rolled my eyes. The immature brat was still an immature brat.

"Rude! And it's not that bad!" YueHua puffed out her cheeks while making some final adjustments on the cosplay to make it fit better. Maybe I shouldn't make the girl irritated when she have needles and pins in hand. I swore she stabbed me a few times intentionally. "I only went a few years for university. So it can't help it that I have a heavy accent. Besides, I haven't used English for over a year until you got hired."

x

After the wig was cut, a full face of makeup on, and all the accessories of the cosplay on. An uncanny images of the White Robed Witch stared back at me in the mirror. Through the magic of cosplay, I became my game character.

"Wow. I thought you'd look good in it, but I didn't think you would look this good. We are going to be popular at the con for sure!"

"I'm surprised that a taobao cosplay could look this good."

"Taobao. You think you can get this quality product from taobao? I hand picked all the fabrics and commissioned someone to make these cosplays for us. I'm very serious when it comes to cosplay! Although, your measurements were only an estimate that's why we had to do some last minute adjustments." YueHua said like a true fan.

"What are you dressing up as by the way?" I never thought to ask until this moment. Since we were doing a group cosplay, she must also be cosplaying someone from Glory.

"I'm going to be Vaccaria of course." She said like the most natural thing in the world.

"Huh? I totally thought you would say Cloud Piercer. Aren't you a hardcore Zhou ZeKai fan?"

"Zhou ZeKai is actually going to be at the con this year. It is rumored that he is already going to be dressed up as his character. He is going to be the perfect Cloud Piercer, so why should I even bother. Besides, I total ship Vaccaria and the White Robed Witch together after that match." YueHua showed me the backdrop on her phone, which was a drawing of chibi Vaccaria and White Robed Witch sitting on a grassy hill and watching the stars together.

"I hope that ship will burn and sink soon, even if I have to do it myself." I made a pained look. My tooth was starting to hurt from how sweet the drawing was.

"Don't be such a hater. You will break a lot of fan's hearts if you say something like that."

"Then let the hearts break start, muahahahaha!" I laughed heartlessly.

x

CCG Expo was huge and chaotic! I wasn't just describing the convention building, the convention itself felt like pure chaos. The building was packed to the brim; there was an ocean of people inside. YueHua was right about one thing though; I never had to worry about being recognized in this crowd.

There were a lot of people cosplaying various popular Glory characters, the White Robed Witch among them. From just a glance, I saw at least 5 other people cosplaying the White Robed Witch and even more people dressed as the famous characters from the various teams.

I think I would be lost without YueHua at the convention, if we weren't stopped every 10 seconds for pictures of course.

Since we arrived at the con by foot from the hotel across the street, we were stopped so many times that it took more than 30 minutes just to reach the front doors. When we entered, we were stalled by a massive crowd. The crowding at the front doors became such a fire hazard that three security was dispatched to come and break up the crowd. However, once we were far enough from the doors, another crowd surrounded us.

"OMG! You guys look exactly like Vaccaria and the White Robed Witch in real life! I total ship you guys! Can I get your guys' picture?" Yet another fan came over to drool and fawn over our cosplays.

"Sure!" YueHua agreed happily and pulled me into another photo.

I was starting to feel bored, and it began to show on my face. But I guess that's White Robed Witch's default expression anyways, so it worked out pretty well. YueHua seemed very pleased with all the attentions, but I started to feel like an accessory to YueHua. By the request of the people around us, I posed with one of my hand under YueHua's chin like I was going in to kiss Vaccaria with a frostbitten kiss.

"AHHHH! THANK YOU!" The crowd went crazy.

"When can we get to the exhibitor area? I want to see the figures." I whispered to YueHua while holding the pose.

"Hush. Don't ruin the picture."

I sighed. It's going to be a long weekend.

x

After an hour of torment, I have finally escaped the clutches of the evil YueHua, and have arrived in the exhibition room! Well, the convention needed her to resolve some last minute convention guest related problem. Something about an international guest was stuck at custom or something along those lines.

One's misfortune was someone else's fortune. Thanks to the unintentional sacrifice of the unknown guest, I finally gained freedom! Without YueHua around, people seemed to ask for pictures less. I had serious thoughts of not cosplaying the White Robed Witch or ditching YueHua for the rest of the weekend. If it weren't for the very toe pinching cosplay heels I had to wear for the cosplay, I would be running from booth to booth like a little kid set loose in a candy store already.

I wandered from one booth to the next. Slowly, but surely, I somehow went from the exhibitor area, to the dealer's room, and then artist alley. I also picked up a few things here and there as I went.

x

Ah, Company G, always so many new cute products lined up. Company A, known to have one of the highest quality of figures on the market. Company K, have the best prices for figures, but quality of figure have more occasional misses compared to the other two companies. Then Glory Co. had a pretty big display area despite the lack of high end figures compared to the other companies. They did have many of their smaller lower quality action figures on display to make up for numbers.

I stopped by the Glory Co booth discreetly as possible to look at the Troubling Rain figure. But with so many Glory fans flooding to the booth to see the figure and Zhou ZeKai as Cloud Piercer, it was almost impossible to be discreet. Anytime I tried to get close, I would be stopped for pictures. I guess I will just have to look at the pictures people will post online, or try again later when I was more casually dressed.

In the end, I ended buying way too many things than I meant to. Somehow I had two handful of bag full of mostly figures. I had to pick up this year's Snow Miku from the company G booth; it's a collector's must have! Then there was Saber Alter in swimsuit by company A. Company A always have the best face sculpts! Thus, must have! Then, Company K have their newly release Dark Angel Olivia figure for that price at their booth? Oh my goodness. Yes! Yes! Yes! Must buy!

Afterwards, I found some second hand hidden treasures in the dealer's room for good prices. Although I have to say, you really have to be careful in the vendors area. A lot of the vendors tried to sell bootlegged items as real things even at a big national level convention like this! Unacceptable! At least I had a discrete eye, so I didn't get tricked that easily. Although, it wasn't that hard to tell a fake from the real thing. The trick? Look at the face. If the face looks odd or derpy, there were 150% chance that figure was a fake.

Lastly, I picked up some neat artworks in the artist alley. So many talents out there. What a haul! I had a silly grin on my face and wiped some imaginary sweat off my brow. I feel accomplish!

x

"The cosplay contest is starting soon! Pretty lady, did you want to join?" Some random guy stopped me on my way out of the dealer's room and back to the hotel.

"Not interested." I grunted while shifting the weight of my purchases on my shoulders. The figures individuals were not that heavy, but man, they weighted a ton when added together.

"The top three will receive their prizes from Zhou ZeKai, dress as Cloud Piercer. You will get the chance of meeting the famous Number 1 Glory Sharpshooter up close."

"Still not interested. I already met the guy before. Did you know, he is very hard to talk to?" I turned to walk away.

"..." The random guy wanted to cry right now. Why was it so hard to get cute female cosplayers to enter the contest. He decided to use his secret weapon for any true otakus at heart. "...I see you are a figure lover. The top three prizes for the contest are the popular Guilty Crown Inori figure from Company G, the rare and exclusive Kos-Mos Ver. 4 by Company A, and you can't forget about the hottest item on the market right now, the perfect grade Strike Freedom Gundam model kit by Company B."

"All rare items!" My eyes shone as my mind instantly calculated the current worth of all those items on the market. I could live without the Gundam kit, but I have been looking for both the Kos-Mos and Inori figure for a while now. But the value of the figure have more than doubled in the second hand market. Must have waifus! "Count me in!" My attitude flipped a complete 180.

x

"The winner of this year's cosplay contest is our Cosplayer XiaoBai as the White Robed Witch! The details of her cosplay is breathtaking and true to the original character designs! XiaoBai also wears this cosplay very well! She will receive the sold out perfect grade Strike Freedom Gundam model kit by Company B! Samsara's captain, Zhou ZeKai, cosplaying Cloud Piercer will now present the prize to our winner! Congratulations!" The host announced the results of the contest. For the contest, the contestants didn't have to enter their real name, so I just want with XiaoBai. Ye Xiu been calling me that for the past 6 month, so it was the name that came to mind first.

"Congratz, XiaoBaiBai." Zhou ZeKai whispered with a small smile while handing me the big gundam kit.

"Thanks." I wanted to cry on the inside when I accepted the first place prize, although not in a good way. I wanted the other two prizes more! I wondered if the others would trade with me.

Wait... "It's XiaoBai, not XiaoBaiBai. You added one too many characters in my name." I corrected Zhou ZeKai. Little Zhou just gave me a small smile but didn't say anything else.

"Okay. Glory Co. just passed word saying they want a picture of the winner with Zhou ZeKai for their webpage. XiaoBai, Zhou ZeKai, please step to the center of the stage." The host urged both of us forward after receiving the information through his ear piece.

After being on my feet in the most painful shoes ever, it was inevitable that I finally stumbled at some point today, and it just happened to be now. Like a gentleman, Zhou ZeKai steadied me with a hand around my waist and another held on my hand so I didn't face plant on stage. Of course, that moment was recorded by thousands of cameras.

x

"So this is what you do when I leave you alone for a little. The nerve of you! You being so intimate with my ZeZe! Traitor!" A fuming YueHua met me backstage.

"I'm completely innocent! Besides one of the employees bribed me into this. I only entered to win one of the other two figures. Hey do you think I can trade this model kit for one of the other prizes?"

"Ugh! You didn't even treasure the moment you guys had on stage! Wasted! That moment was wasted on you! Well just to let you know, the White Robed Witch and Cloud Piercer doesn't even look good together." YueHua humped loudly before stomping away.

"Oi! Let me grab all my stuff backstage! Wait up!" I checked to make sure everything I bought was still there. It was kept in a safe area backstage, but people can have sticky fingers. I was satisfied to find that nothing was stolen. I tried to juggle all my purchases and the model kit I had just won while trying to catch up to YueHua at the same time. "Hey! Help me carry some of this back to the hotel, please?"

"No way. Do it yourself!"

"Cosplay Hubby! Vaccaria my love! Don't desert me!" I whined after YueHua.

"I hardly know you!" YueHua barked from the front.

Many people around us shot us a weird look as we walked by, but they just wrote it off as a cosplaying thing. Convention was a place where a lot of unusual stuff happen after all.

x

When we finally made it back to the hotel room, I was sore all over. All I wanted to do was take a nap at this point, but YueHua had other plans to torture me. She made an ice bath in the tub and dragged me over to soak my feet with her. It was supposed to help prevent swelling she claimed. But the water was so cold, my feet started to hurt like it was stabbed by thousands little cold needles not even 10 seconds after being submerged in the water.

"You are just doing this for revenge, right? There is no medicinal purpose in this, right?" I pouted when I saw YueHua grinning ear to ear next to me.

"Who knows." She just shrugged her shoulders.

x

As expected, pictures of Zhou ZeKai steadying me on stage from all angles appeared online. All sorts of rumors and speculations started online. Many Zhou ZeKai fans flamed the pictures on all social sites. 'Ugly. Fatty. Pig. Go get some plastic surgery.' The fans posted unoriginally yet again. The online hunt for this mysterious XiaoBai began.

For the rest of the convention, both YueHua and I cosplayed other characters to prevent being recognized. Currently we were dressed as Naomi and Robin from One Piece. At least the cosplay was more temperature appropriate and shoes were much more comfortable.

We actually managed to squeeze our way to the Glory Co booth to see the figure later into the weekend. My opinion on the figure was the same as before. It wasn't a bad figure, just different than my own style. It was a good figure, but it definitely wasn't an amazing figure; it wasn't one that I would buy. I couldn't really put my finger on it, but something about the figure looked off to me. From from the whispers of the fans around me, a lot of people thought the same.

It wasn't until the crowd shoved me out of the way of the figure display when I found out what seemed wrong with it.

[Sloppy paint job.] I send a message to Lin. Hopefully he would pass the message along to the new Project Glory figure sculptor, Qi Yan. Some part of the paint was going over borders; too much paint caked together at certain spots; patchy paint on other parts; air bubbles at some parts. Overall, it was a sloppy rushed paint job.

"Okay. You saw it, let's go do something else now. There are panels, game room, and concerts. You spend way too much time in the dealer's room. If I don't drag you out of here, you might go broke. I also can't believe I only got one wear out of that cosplay because of you." YueHua mumbled begrudgingly while dragging me out of the dealer's room.

"There will be other cons?"

"That's right. And you are going to come with me to other cons to make up for this mess up." YueHua decided on her own.

"Ugh! Can I at least get better shoes? It was those shoes' fault! I swear!"


	63. Whose Ghost is it?

The last chapter (ch. 65) was just completely earlier today! Yay! Expect frequent updates in the next couple days :)

* * *

When finally I arrived back at the little loft on the second floor of Happy Internet Cafe, the renovation was complete. Everything was different. There was a locked door to the second floor of the cafe. I had walked passed a lobby, a conference room, a training room, a guild room, and a R&D room. I smiled at the sign they added by the door that was left untouched at the end of the hallway "Naomi's Workshop"

It felt nice to be back in this familiar space after been gone for about a week. Everything inside the room was almost how I left it before leaving for City S. Nothing was missing, but there was something extra place on top of my keyboard by someone.

[Did someone leave a bank card here by accident?] I messaged Ye Xiu to ask about a debit card I found waiting for me on my keyboard.

[Chen Guo split the tournament rewards money when you were gone. That is the returns on your investment.]

[You guys don't need me to put in back to Happy?]

[Chen Guo already got three sponsorship lined up. They are way bigger amount than what you can provide.] This might sounded condescending, but I reminded myself this was Ye Xiu. This was him trying to be nice. Anything that comes out of his mouth sounds like he was looking down on everyone sometimes.

[Thanks.] I was actually grateful to Ye Xiu. After spending more time getting to know the guy for the last couple months, I knew this was his way of helping me with my financial situation. He was just too shy to directly say something mushy like that. Men sometimes. [If she needs extra eyes to take a look at any of sponsor fine line stuff, I can get her in contact with Lin and YueHua. They all have business background.]

[The boss says thanks.]

x

I thought Ye Xiu would leave me alone with my all important work and projects. But, of course, that was just a fantasy.

[XiaoBaiBai, help out with the Ghost Parade event.] It wasn't a question, it was a statement, an order.

[No time. Besides I don't have any account card back yet.] I tried to talk my way out.

[RongFei is done looking over your equipment. Since it couldn't be put into the Equipment Editor, he couldn't do much with them. The event only from 7pm to midnight each day starting today. You can work during the day and play at night! It's okay. It's just for a week.] Ye Xiu said it like that there was no conflict with my schedule at all.

[God Ye. I just got home. I'm human that have human needs. Please let me rest.] I pleaded for my life at this point.

[Happy just paid you 454,000 RMB. All you can do is repay Happy with some manual labor. Any extra character on the leaderboard will help us obtain materials. I will drop off your account card in a bit.]

[But you said the money was the return on my investment.] I send a crying emoji to Ye Xiu. To think I was grateful to his words before. I take all the nice things I said about him previously back. He was really a slave driver!

Not even a minute after our conversation, Ye Xiu strolled into my newly named workshop without even knocking.

"Where did you come from?" I yelled. I was startled to see Ye Xiu suddenly in my space.

"The training room. ShaBaiBai, did you think those rooms were just for decoration?" Ye Xiu sneered while grabbing me by the arm. "Let's go have dinner with the rest of the team and then get ready for the event tonight." There was really no way of escaping this guy. Thus, I was dragged into the Glory event, literally.

x

When I logged into the game, it was about 10 minutes before the start of the event. I was still in the same city in Heavenly Domain as I previous was. Without not much to do, I waited around like every other player.

At 7pm, sounds of grim bells rang throughout Glory. Blood like texts dripped down the computer screen, signaling the start of the event. As the White Robed Witch wandered the streets, I wondered what I should be even be looking for.

"It's too strong! Run!" A saw a player running towards me with someone or something following close behind him.

The monster looked like a pale ghost of a young boy with terrifying ruby eyes. "Money. Give me money!" The monster roared in a deep voice that didn't match it's boy pulled out some in game currency from his pocket and tossed it at his victim. The gold coins struck his victim like bullets and killing the player fairly quickly. After that player died, the ghost boy turned his attention to me. "You have money!"

After getting over the appearance of the monster and figuring out its weakness, I had no big issues dealing with it. The monster was strong, but it was only strong as mini boss from a dungeon.

"Help. Goddess help!"

The sound of my battle attracted many normal players in the area that were having trouble with their own monsters. My luck was considered good since all the players are bringing me all the monsters to kill. After the ghost boy, I fought an umbrella monster (Karakasa kozo), a paper lantern (Chochin obake), a half turtle half human monster (Kappa), a ghost woman with a terrifying face (Oiwa), and a snow woman (Yuki onna).

I wonder if Kazumi was the project leader on this event, since the event itself seems very Japanese lore based. I mean Ghost Parade with 100 demons set to appear each night. Night Parade of the 100 Demon from Japanese folklore? See the connection?

Some monsters were easier to fight than others. The was the easiest to kill was the paper lantern. I destroy it easily with a few ice attacks. On the other spectrum, I had a bit of trouble with the snow woman since we are similar in elemental class. My ice element attacks were not effective on her and I didn't have many fire element attacks I could spam in my disposal. It was lucky that I found that she had another weakness: physical attacks.

Just as I was finally gaining an upper hand against the snow woman, a certain sword saint came to kill-steal (KS) my ghost.

x

[Does it make you happy to pick on the weak Huang ShaoTian?] I complained into the pro player chat. I wasn't too surprised by his actions though. There were only limited amount of ghost per night. It was inevitable I had a run into other pro players.

[Shameless.] Various players started to point fingers.

[It looked like you had trouble. You should be thankful I helped you out. Ahahaha! Are you surprised? If you don't keep your eye on the price, you will lose it. You know I'm good at finding opportunities!] Huang ShaoTian typed in the pro player's QQ chat while his relentless attack on the snow woman didn't let up one bit. [Che. I only got this many points from this monster?] He said disappointingly. When he stole my target, I already finished off more than 70% of her HP. So he only got less than 30% of the total amount of points. Even though Huang ShaoTian didn't receive too many points from the snow woman, any points to him was a bonus since he was already number one in the ranking.

Just as the yellow monkey was overjoyed with kill stealing, someone else overtook him in the rankings within seconds.

[F**k! F**k! F**k! Ye Xiu, what kind of cheat did you use?! How did you jump to first place? Did you kill a GM?! Cheater! I'm reporting you! Are there any GMs online?!] Huang XiaoTian posted his unconstrained rage on TV. It was a good thing Glory limits how quickly you could post onto the global chat or who knows how many pages of spams Huang ShaoTian would fill the chat up with.

[Ha.] Ye Xiu typed one word as reply.

[You got what you deserved.] People laughed in the pro player chat.

x

I pushed Troubling Rain forward in game while Huang ShaoTian was distracted.

[Why did you push my character Naomi? Wait. Why am I frozen? When did you place this Ice Line?! Wait. What are you planning Naomi? Wait. Wait. Wait Can we talk about this?] Huang ShaoTian panicked in the pro player chat since his ability to post in the global chat was still on cooldown.

[What? What's going on?] A lot of player in the chat suddenly become interested.

[F**k! F**k! F**k! AHHH! Naomi! WTF!? That was totally underhanded! Underhanded! Underhanded! Not fair at all! What's up with that KO attack anyways? Ah! AHHH! AHHHH! F**k! F**k! F**k! No! NOOOO! I can't believe my weapon actually dropped. What luck is this? Are you cheating too? AHH! AHHH! F**k! F**k! F**k! You better return it back to me when I revive you bitch!] Huang ShaoTian spammed in the QQ chat.

[Ha. You didn't enjoy that kiss? You are an idiot to bought a silver weapon in game anyways. I will see how I feel later.] I wrote back. The silver weapon of course wasn't Troubling Rain's famous sword, Ice Rain. It must have been a prototype Blue Rain R&D department was currently under research.

[Kiss?] Many players send a shocked, blushing, or question mark emojis. At this point pretty much everyone figured how what had happened.

[F**k! F**k! F**k! Give it back! Give it back! Give it back! You have to give it back! I will send whole Blue Brook Guild to hunt you down if you don't!] Huang ShaoTian started to spam me in game, in the group chat, and also in a private chat. He was desperate. I was sure he would be in big trouble with the club if the higher ups and R&D department found out he lost a silver weapon in game.

[Can you even do that? That sounds like abuse of club power.] I replied unfazed.

[Can we talk about this?] Captain Yu send me a private message too shortly after. He must have found out from Huang ShaoTian how he stole my ghost and I KOed him with my unique skill for revenge.

[I was only joking about keeping the Silver Weapon, Captain Yu. Can you just make sure he doesn't KS my monsters again for the rest of the event?]

[Thank you Naomi. That won't be a problem at all. I will make sure of it.]

Shortly after Troubling Rain revived in the nearby city, Huang ShaoTian got his silver weapon back, but he did became a laughing stock for the rest of the night.

x

[You should have just kept the sword. What a waste.] Ye Xiu messaged me when he found out I had returned the sword.

[You don't have a character on the team who can use it anyways.]

[We could still have kept it for R&D purposes. Unspecialized character need everything.]

[You sound like hoarder. I took some screenshots of the text flavor and stats of the weapon. I will send it to you later.]

[Ha. Not bad.] Ye Xiu praised. [You are number 9 in the rankings? Not bad, not bad. If there are no more ghosts near you, come to Kansas City.]

[What are you up to?]

[You will see.]

x

I actually knew where Kansas City was. Kansas City was one of the 32 main city in Heavenly Domain. I was terrible with direction, but it wasn't so bad that I couldn't even find a major city in Glory.

[I have arrived.] I let Ye Xiu know the moment I stepped foot in the city.

[Go to this location.] Ye Xiu send me a coordinate in the chat.

[Old Ye. You know I'm terrible with these type of directions right?]

[Look at your current coordinate number and start walking. If the numbers are getting closer to the one I send, that means you are getting closer. If it helps, the location is at the revival point.]

When I found my way at the rendezvous spot, I didn't see Grim Lord. I didn't miss the character because Grim Lord's equipment set was... unique. All his equipment don't match in class, set, or color. Grim Lord looked like a walking equipment recycling plant. And of course, we cannot forget about the unique umbrella equip was hard to miss too.

[Where are you?]

Just as I typed the question, the mess of a character walked up next to me.

"So what are we doing here?" I asked Ye Xiu through the in game voice chat. Grim Lord just seem to be standing there with me, not doing anything really.

"Waiting." Ye Xiu was turning his game view to look at the characters walking out of the revival point.

"For what?" I started to look around too.

Not even a minute in, Grim Lord's gaze seemed to lock onto his target. His target stares back and then logs off. That was a bit anticlimactic.

"You were waiting for him? Well he is gone, what now?"

"Let's follow them." Grim Lord starts to walk off towards a random group of people that wasn't from Happy. With no idea what was going on, I followed suit.

"What are you guys doing? Why are you guys following me?" A random character yelled at us. Is it me or did it sound like Little Blue? It couldn't be. I looked closely at this character and character name, it didn't ring a bell at all. Naw, this wasn't Little Blue.

From their exchange, it was hinted there was a strong ghost that some guild was fattening up in this city. It made sense that Ye Xiu caught scent of it and followed it here. Why did he bring me though? Maybe it was too strong. Then, why ask me instead of SuSu? Maybe the monster was weak against Ice or Lightning attacks?

"What are you dozing off for? Come on." Ye Xiu broke me out of my thoughts and started to walk away.

"Hm. I think they are following us. Is this okay?" I noticed various characters, including the one Ye Xiu was just speaking to, following us either hidden behind objects or out in the open. Ye Xiu wouldn't just lead them to the ghost he found just like that right?

"Ha. That's fine. Let them." Ye Xiu said rather confidently.

Why do I even bother worrying? This was the sly Old Ye after all; he always have a plan.

x

"I'm bored." I complained after about 30 minutes of wandering the city with Ye Xiu. Sure, we had some run ins with ghosts from the event, but none of them have been fattened up.

"It's almost done. Check in the rankings in a bit." Ye Xiu replied.

Almost done? What was that supposed to mean? Does that mean we were finally nearing the strong ghost?

"Is it okay to let them still follow us?" I glanced over my shoulder again and saw the various character still following us in a distance.

"Heh. The more the better." Ye Xiu said in a lighthearted tone.

x

In the end, Ye Xiu and I didn't find any strong ghost that was grown by any guild in Kansas City. I noticed my ranking got pushed down to 13th place. However, four of Happy's main team members somehow jumped from who-knows-where into the top 10.

"We were bait for the guilds." I finally figured out Ye Xiu's plan after I saw the ranking.

"Yup."

I let out heavy sigh. All this time, I was still expecting Ye Xiu taking me to a fight a strong ghost. Who knew Ye Xiu had other motives and was only keeping all the guilds attention here while the rest of Happy's team went to kill off the ghosts that were cared by other guilds. I was kept in the dark to make things seem more realistic. The guilds who lost their hard work was tricked by this guy too. I couldn't help but to laugh. Those people good at tactics were too scary. I couldn't help to feel a bit bad for all the guild and all the people who followed us around for the past half an hour.

"Well. Since we are done here, I'm going somewhere else to see if I can find anymore ghosts." I bid Ye Xiu goodbye.

From then until the end of tonight's event at midnight, I only found 1 more ghosts. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to me into the top 10. I was sitting at the 14th spot after the first night. I can't complain too much since I was still far above some other pro players in the event and not too far behind others.

x

"Screw you! Screw you! Screw you! Screw you! Screw you! Who's jealous!" Huang ShaoTian spammed into the pro player's QQ chat due to something Ye Xiu had typed, probably.

I didn't actually get to see what Ye Xiu had said to provoke the noisy monkey because Huang ShaoTian had filled up the player's chat with a wall of text before I could read it.

[System Notice: Troubling Rain has been kicked out of Glory Professional Player group.]

The group chat was finally quiet, but maybe too quiet. No one knew what to say at this point.

[Anyone else who have something to say!] Ye Xiu threatened in the chat.

[Childish!] Dessert Dust suddenly popped up. This was a rare occasion since Old Man Han rarely participated in the group chat.

After a while, Huang ShaoTian was let back into the group to much of my, and many others, disappointment. He immediately started to spam at Ye Xiu again in the group chat. Did he not learn his lesson last time?

[It was so nice and quiet in the chat. Too bad that didn't last very long. Well, I'm off.] I send a sighing emoji into the chat.

[What did you mean by that Naomi? Explain yourself! Hey, are you off already or just playing dead? Naomi! Naomi! Naomi!] Huang ShaoTian spammed amidst all the good night's I received from many other players.

[Hehe.] I couldn't help but to provoke after I went invisible.

[Naomi! Naomi! Naomi! So you were playing dead. Going hehe, are you pretending to be Old Ye? Get back here! Naomi! Naomi! Naomi! You and I aren't done yet!]

[I'm not a genie that comes if you call my name three times. Serious though, I'm going to bed now. I have work to do tomorrow morning. Night.]

* * *

Bonus Scene:

[Hi Little Blue. Long time no talk! It's really weird. I met someone in game today that sounded and acted really like you. So I'm just dropping by to say hi.] White Robed Witch posted to a in-game chat.

Somewhere in outside the game a innocent cup was accidentally dropped and broken by Little Blue.


	64. Isn't this Cyber Bullying?

As Ye Xiu had strongly suggested - insisted - I worked on my art projects during the day and ghost hunted with Happy at night for the rest of the week.

"Currently, Happy needed all the rare materials we can get their hands on. Why? Because we are poor!" Old Ye said.

After the first day fiasco for the guilds, no guild in the right mind was raising anymore monsters for their pro players. So everyone at Happy had to rely on their own luck to hunt down ghosts every night. My luck had been not too bad, and I was able to keep my spot pretty stable around the teens. From the daily event rankings, I was able to get some rare material for Happy.

I had received some insider information after talking to Kazumi about the event. She did admit that she was the one who suggested the theme this year and had helped design many of these ghosts based on Japanese lores. Kazumi doesn't have an interest in playing Glory, but she happily listened to the in game stories I had from the event.

Of course, Kazumi couldn't reveal too many hidden parts of the event that haven't been unlocked yet. But she did tell me that any ghosts that was not killed the day previous will appear in addition to the new wave of 100 ghost the next day. This was to give people a higher chance to find ghosts and catch up in points from the day before. Also, she dropped a hint that there was a special event planned when all the ghosts were defeated. She wouldn't tell me any details on it, but she mentioned that the rewards was very generous.

x

On the sixth night, all the ghosts in the Heavenly Domain were killed before midnight and a special dungeon was unlocked. I couldn't stay up to watch the whole thing because it was getting quite late. Shortly after Mo Fan and Ye Xiu hastily put together a 5 man team and entered the dungeon, I left for bed. I was sure I would hear about this in the player's chat the next morning anyways, since Ye Xiu was involved. Where there is Ye Xiu, there would always be outraged players.

What I didn't expect was, the uproar the next morning was even bigger than I had expected. Like I had predicted, Ye Xiu had an mess out of the event last night. He had lead Tyranny by the nose, and had tricked them help Happy kill off some of the other teams before turning around beat up Tyranny's players. How did I know of this? Well, I got the gist of it from the walls and walls of messages in the group chat from all teams complaining about Ye Xiu's shamelessness.

I had to shake my head a bit while reading through all messages. I couldn't help to think, 'seriously guys, it wasn't the first or second day you guys know this guy. What did you all expect?'

"Sis, are you up? Did you want to go buy breakfast for the team with me?" A knock at the door pulled me away from the chat screen.

"Let me change out of my PJ, I will be right out!" I replied to YiFan through the door.

x

On top of Ye Xiu's pretty normal behaviors, it seemed like something else happened in the group. A pro player by the name of Fang Rui from Wind Howl seemed to have caused a stir with one single post on weibo. 'Too tired to love.' (累感不爱).

Fang Rui's fans commented and reposted that post over and over again since it was posted last night. This morning, all the pro players started to comment on his weibo too. Some people posted with good intentions and others came to trolls.

[You have no future there, pack up, come to Happy!] Even Ye Xiu's dusty weibo account that haven't been touched since its creation joined in the fun too.

I had to admit, I was surprised by how much power Ye Xiu still held in this circle. Just with one post from Ye Xiu's weibo account, he stirred up even more attention from fans, the media, and other pro players. Soon, Fang Rui's original post was forgotten and Ye Xiu's first post in 10 years was the new hot topic. Eventually, a bragging war between all the different teams in the alliance started.

[Tiny Herb is the best option] Wang JieXi posted.

[Why not come to Thunderclap?] Xiao ShiQin posted.

[Come to Void.] Li Xuan posted.

The attention on the drama that was happening on weibo was so great that it completely overshadowed some guy's retirement announcement from a small team. I only knew of the random guy's retirement because Ye Xiu was interested in the retired guy's Qi Master account, Boundless Sea.

I felt bad for that retired player. I checked out his weibo. Compared to the lively discussions on Fang Rui's page, the other player's page was pretty much dead after the normal polite 'goodbye's and 'good luck's' from some of the pro players.

x

"This Fang Rui. Should we get him or not?" Sister Chen asked Ye Xiu the question that I was wondering too.

"Not." Ye Xiu replied simply even as he continued to monitor the weibo discussions.

"So you are just trolling him? Don't go giving out false hope and breaking hearts." I warned Ye Xiu when I overheard him on my way to gather everyone for a team breakfast in the conference room.

"This is an adult's matter, kids shouldn't interfere. (这是大人的事，小孩子别闹)" Ye Xiu waved me off.

Che! Says the person who acts more like a brat than anyone else.

"I guess you don't want your share of the breakfast stuff YiFan and I bought for the team. Here we thought you'd tired and hungry after staying up all night for the event. I must have overthought things. What to do with the extra portion of breakfast? I guess I will just have to eat two shares." I pretended to think out loud before shrugging and walking away.

"Ah. Wait, XiaoBaiBao. Let's talk about this nicely." Ye Xiu immediately changed his tone of voice after his stomach growled at the mention of breakfast.

x

After the week long summer Glory event, everything in-game was mostly calm again minus a few waves pro players popping here and there for wild bosses. I was unsure about the condition of other teams during the summer, but Happy was having a busy undergoing a growth spurt of sort. Happy was able to shock the Glory community over and over again.

Since the last day of the Ghost Parade event, Happy, as a whole, started becoming more busy than before and during the event. RongFei pretty much locked himself in his R&D room burning through various materials and studying various equipment traits.

Everyone at Happy and myself managed to get various rare materials and other goodies from the Ghost parade overall ranking. On top of those materials, Wu Chen and the guild have been busy running various dungeon and killing wild bosses to replenish the materials in storage too. But no matter how much material was gathered, there didn't seem enough for Rong Fei. Some materials that Happy and I just put into storage were immediately taken out and used up. The rate that Happy's R&D head was burning through the materials was worrisome. I hoped at least Rong Fei was producing results.

A couple day after that, Ye Xiu managed to successfully purchase the All-Star Qi Master, Boundless Sea, with all his silver equipment, from Seaside for a low, low price of 5.5 million RMB. The very next day, RongFei finally produced some success. Boundless Sea's silver weapon, Mirror Moon, was upgraded to level 75.

A week after that, Fang Rui agreed to come and visit Happy. I wondered what kind of underhand tactic Ye Xiu used to persuade an All-Star player like Fang Rui to consider Happy seriously.

x

"This is Naomi. We call her XiaoBai around here. She draws stuff for us. If you join the team, you will also receive a free art of your character by her. XiaoBaiBai, say hi to Fang Rui. " Ye Xiu suddenly opened my door with Fang Rui next to him.

"We met. Hi." I greeted dully without even looking up from drafting a pose for Gao YingJie's Kind Tree. With how many times Ye Xiu had come unannounced in the last month, I have become desensitized to his surprise visits. Then I remembered some thing. "Oh. No pictures in my workshop please. Many if not all of the drawing is under a secrecy contract."

"Oh. Hi. I won't." Fang Rui greeted back rather awkwardly. I didn't blame the guy. It probably wasn't everyday that he barged into a female's room unannounced. Or maybe he wasn't prepared to see the usual dolled up version of me at the guest matches in only a plain tank, basketball shorts, and big glasses. Or maybe I seemed like a shut in otaku with various figures and anime artworks I have been working on lining the walls. I thought I might have heard the shuttering of someone's heart. Perfect goddess image destroyed, maybe? Oops.

"XiaoBaiBai, come to the training room. We are going to have a bonding event with this guy soon." Ye Xiu said while leading Fang Rui out of the room.

"Sure. Let me finish up this draft first." I waved unhurriedly at the two from my computer.

"The project only for Tiny Herb. They are not as important than our guest here. They can wait." Ye Xiu said from the door.

"Yea. Yea." I waved for the two to get out.

x

After I saved my work progress, I went to find the rest of the team in the training room. When I entered, everyone sitting in front of their computers with their eyes glued to their screens. What kind of situation was this? Where was the bonding event that Ye Xiu promised?

"F**K! Again!" Fang Rui suddenly yelled from behind a computer.

Again, what kind of situation was this?

"Took you long enough XiaoBaiBai. Grab a seat and join us." Ye Xiu invited warmly.

"What's going on?" I chose a seat next to Sister Chen and whispered to her. She was the only one who seemed a bit free at the moment.

"Ye Xiu is testing out Fang Rui's skills as a Qi Master. Everyone is doing a rotation battle with him at the arena right now. Come and see for yourself." Chen Guo whispered back.

When I arrived in the arena room with White Robed Witch, Grim Lord was just finishing wiping the floor with Boundless Sea. Everyone else from Happy just stood outside of the arena in a circle observing the fight. I know Ye Xiu was testing Fang Rui, but why does the scene seem so shameless? Was it because it almost watching a group of bully watching their boss bully beating up the new kid at school.

"You finally came? Have a round with the Great Fang Rui." Ye Xiu said while leading Lord Grim out of the stadium.

"That's fine! Let's go!" Fang Rui yelled from his computer.

"Eh? Me? Why?" Just like that. Somehow, I got dragged into this borderline cyber bullying event that Ye Xiu calls a bonding event.

x

I ran around in circles around Boundless Sea while dodging his Chi Bullets. I have fought with Fang Rui before, but it was when he was playing as a Thief. It was also before the White Robed Witch reached level 75. In a way, the I gotten stronger while Fang Rui has gotten weaker.

Fang Rui saw the start animation for Dragon Break the Ranks, so he activated Nen Guard in preparation. It seemed like he was going to take on my attack straight on and counter attack when my character was stuck in the short attack ending animation.

Did I give up when I saw through his intentions? Nope. I think Fang Rui most likely forgot that my White Robed Witch was proficient in two class skill trees. I charged with Dragon Break the Ranks as planned. With the swift charge, I pushed the Qi Master onto a Ice Line I drew some time prior. Before Boundless Sea could thaw from his frozen state, my attack animation ended and I release an onslaught of normal, Battle Mage, and Elementalist skills on Fang Rui. With a Rising Dragon Soars the Sky, I finished Boundless Sea's remaining HP.

"..." Fang Rui stared at his screen bit gloomily.

"You can't even beat our in house artist? Maybe I should reevaluate my opinion of you and your fit in Happy." Ye Xiu baited Fang Rui. I bite my tongue, and didn't bother commenting on that at all.

"Oh yea? You and me again, Ye Xiu!"

After a couple hours, Ye Xiu chose to lose to Fang Rui on purpose. Fang Rui looked rather pleased with himself with the results though. I looked around the room. Should we clap for the guy for enduring this three hour long torture?

"You made too many mistake this round." Fang Rui boasted.

"You are right. I went easy on you after seeing you try so hard."

I face palmed. Ye Xiu, even if you let someone win, at least don't tell them! Think about the other person's feeling. I mentally cried.

"Let's go for another round if you are not satisfied with the results!" Fang Rui challenged.

"Haha. Let's go eat first."

x

Shortly after Fang Rui's visit, his transfer deal was approved by both Wind Howl and the Alliance. Happy gained another talented member, and I added another character to my list to draw.

After the news conference in regards to Fang Rui's transfer to Happy, things finally seemed to calm down at Happy. I said seemed because the Glory Alliance and Glory Co. wanted to cash in this potential cash cow, and wanted to send people to pretty up some of the team's more eye catching character and to start creating team goods already. Almost immediately after the news conference, they called Chen Guo to set up a time when they can send over some people to start working.

"Will you be okay with this?" Chen Guo sought out my opinion especially with my history with the gaming company. Even though I wasn't an official member of the team, I have grown close to everyone to the team. It wasn't a understatement to say I was their unofficial member. So, Chen Guo was making an extra effort to look out for me. In an ideal world, both Happy and I would prefer if I took charge of the team goods; but alas, we don't live in an idea world.

"It will benefit Happy as a whole better if you have them take over the character and team goods. Without that official license from Glory Co., I can't produce any official team goods for Happy." I smiled bitterly at the fact that Glory Co. was stoning walling me and rubbing in my face.

"Don't worry. I will have them write it into the contract that we can choose to terminate and freely choose another party to create our team and character products when we want to." Chen Guo said.

"Hm. That sounds good." I nodded.

A week after that, the people from Glory Co. came to Happy.


	65. Opportunities Goes to The Prepared

Finally have a day off from work and everything else, and sick...so let's finish posting the story!

* * *

The day the people from Glory Co. came, I locked myself in my little corner of the second floor. I was minding my business when Chen Guo knocked on my doors.

"Do you have a moment?" Chen Guo popped her head in.

"What's up?" I looked up from my current work.

"Hm. Someone from Glory Co. is looking for you. A little Japanese lady won't take no for an answer. Can you come to take a look?"

If it was the same little Japanese lady that I was thinking of, I already had a pretty good idea of who it was. I wonder what brought her here though.

x

The first thing I noticed in the training room was Kazumi towering over a sweating nervous younger male. There was nothing special to note about the male other than I have never met before. He currently was sitting in front of a computer using a special Glory Co. character editing software(1) adjusting Soft Mist's appearance. Soon I found out why the poor guy was near tears.

"That isn't right. You made her eyes too close together. Adjust them again." She critiqued in direct and sharp tone. Her frown displaying her displeasure to the quality of work the young man was producing.

"Kazumi." I called out.

The older woman turned. Her frosty look immediately dissolved. "Naomi. It's been a while." She greeted back.

"Who is this? Did Aiko and Jin come with you?" I looked around the room and didn't see her usual two sidekicks. Besides Kazumi and this nervous wreck of a kid, there were two other people on another computer looking over Lord Grim's appearance with a concentrated look on their faces.

"Aiko and Jin are now good enough to work on projects on their own. Glory Co. wants me to train a new intern. Those two are also from the graphics department" Kazumi quickly introduced everyone that was sent, and added an extra pointed look at the back of her intern. It was obvious that taking a new intern wasn't her choice.

"How is it now?" The intern asked in a unsure high-pitched voice.

"Does Soft Mist look like that young lady?" Kazumi ruthlessly shot a question of her own back.

I examined the screen and face that looked no where like Tang Rou looked back at me. "Her face is too long. Chin is slightly too pointed. Eyes are still too close together. Eyes too high into her bangs. Space between her eyebrow and her eyes too large. Her nose bridge and cheekbones are both too high." I pointed out all the immediate flaws I saw between the screen and the live person in the room.

"Che. Have him figure it out on his own. He will never learn this way."

"You are scaring him too much. How can he do a good job in this state?"

"You are too soft."

"And you are too harsh."

x

After a few attempts, the intern finally put together something that remotely look like Tang Rou. But that wasn't good enough by any professional standards. In the end, Kazumi had to step in. With just a few clicks of the mouse, a Soft Mist became Tang Rou's clone. Ah, the difference between the master and student.

With her given task out of the way, Kazumi suggested she and I go have tea somewhere private until the other guys finishes things up on their end. I suggested we sit in the small living room in my workshop, and asked Chen Guo to have one of the internet employees to bring up some tea.

"So this is your current living situation? Not bad. We worried that you'd be homeless or somewhere with cockroaches. I guess I win the betting pool." Kazumi looked around my living space with lots of interest and started to pictures for evidence.

"I don't know what to say to that. Oh, don't take any pictures of anything in my bedroom, also my workshop. A lot of sensitive materials for companies. You know how it is." I pulled my bedroom door shut in a hurry.

"Are you coming to WonFest this year? I will be going to help translate for Qi Yan and promote Glory Co.'s figures again." Kazumi eventually give up playing good cop and bad cop with me.

"I want to. But I don't have the time or money to go. A few project deadlines are coming up fast for me."

"Bummers. I have insider news that Company K will be putting out a WonFest special edition of the Dark Angel figure this summer." Kazumi casually tempted.

"UGH! Why did you have to tell me that!" The struggle was so real. I really considered dropping everything and buy a plane ticket to go to Japan for that one figure. Again, I have a severe weakness to anything special or limited edition.

"Haha. If it is that big of a deal, just send me money ahead of time and I will bring one back for you. I miss having you around." Kazumi got a good laugh out of my reaction.

"Be honest, you just miss having someone to troll." I rolled my eyes playfully at the older woman.

"That too." She admitted.

Even though she was the biggest troll I know, I did miss working with this woman a lot.

x

In the end, I didn't go to Japan for WonFest. Even though I was very tempted, I had too much obligation. The final draft for one of the light novel was going to be due mid-July. The first draft for all the various drawings and designs for Tiny Herb's handbook was coming up just a few days after WonFest. There were many fans on my weibo waiting list to be drawn. Being busy with work was really a curse and a blessing at the same time.

When August came around, I was finally deadline free for a bit. I finally had a little more time to work on weibo commissions from fans. The currently project I was finishing up was a big commission for Tang Rou and Soft Mist. The commissioner must either have a lot of money or was a huge Tang Rou fan, or possibly both.

This person pretty much ordered everything I offered on the menu: full body shot; dynamic pose; fully colored; with background; highest resolution possible. Because this person requested two characters to be drawn, the total for that commissioned piece was something over 3000 RMB. The more crazy thing was this person paid in full immediately after receiving his invoice. I sincerely hoped that this wasn't a weirdo that would do something perverted with the drawing. For example, making a body pillow out of it or something worse.

x

As for rest of Happy. Their life became a repetitive routine.

7 AM - 7:20 AM: The team would start waking up and wash up for the day

7:20 AM - 8 AM: Breakfast and arrive at training room

8 AM - 11 AM: Hand warm-up exercises and morning training

11 AM - 12 PM: Lunch

12 AM - 1 PM: After lunch break

1 PM - 3 PM: Afternoon training

3 PM - 3:30 PM: Short afternoon break

3:30 PM - 5 PM: Watch other team matches from previous season and team meeting

5 PM - 6 PM: Dinner

After 6PM: Freetime

Even though everyone was done for the day after dinner, everyone usually come back to the training room and play Glory for fun. Some nights, I even join them on a dungeon run or steal a wild boss from the clutches of another guild after dinner together. Everyone and everything fell into a routine. It was peaceful; it was wonderful. I wish these days would last forever. But the hard truth is, like everything else in the world, nothing stays the same.

x

Changes are hard and scary, but sometimes necessary. When I completed the big fan commission on weibo, I had to make a decision. I had to either move with the world or get left behind.

Shortly after completing the big commission for the fan on Weibo, I received a formal email from addressed from Tang Corporation inviting me to City B for a business talk, signed by Tang ShuSen.

At this point, Tang ShuSen was a familiar name. Everyone at Happy knew that was Tang Rou's dad. I put two and two together. I figured out the commissioner was Tang Rou's doting father. It all made sense now why that commissioner was such a huge fan of Tang Rou and Soft Mist, and how he was able to drop so much money so easily. However as far as anyone was aware, Tang Corporation doesn't deal with any Glory related business or markets. This was why it was strange why Tang Rou's dad wanted to meet with me, as soon as possible at that.

"This email seems a bit urgent. Tang Rou, do you know what your dad want with me?" I showed Tang Rou the email during dinner.

"I don't know." Tang Rou, who usually don't show any displeasure, made a face.

"Maybe her dad is checking up on her through Naomi?" Chen Guo took a guess.

"If he disapprove of her living conditions here, maybe Tang Rou will have to go home!" Wei Chen suggested.

"Tang Rou is going to go home?" The two university student asked worriedly. They had listened into the conversation at the most inconvenient time.

"If that's the case. Make sure you tell him that we are treating her daughter like a princess!" Ye Xiu said. Somehow, most of the guys on the team agreed that Tang ShuSen was going to spy on how Tang Rou was doing through me.

"There is no point of letting our imagination running wild at this point. I will find out when I get there." I tried to get everyone to drop the topic.

"Then why even bring it up? Making us all stressed out for nothing. This won't be good for the condition of the team. If we lose the first match, it will be your fault, XiaoBaiBai." Ye Xiu huffed.

If Ye Xiu wasn't sitting across the table from me, I would have put him into a headlock and wouldn't let him go until he was yelling for his ancestors.

Less than a week after I received the email, I flew out to City B to meet with Tang ShuSen.

x

When I walked into Tang ShuSen's office, he sat in a big office chair behind a big desk waiting for my arrival. From just stepping into his office, you can tell he was a very important person just by the way he dressed and how his presence felt.

"Welcome Naomi. Please have a seat. Would you like some tea?" Tang ShuSen waved for his right hand man to offer me a site in the luxurious office couch that looked more expensive than a car and pour me tea from an antique tea set. I sat down to be polite, but I didn't dare to touch the tea cup at all. What if I broke it? I worried that I would have to pay a kidney or liver if I accidentally chipped the cup!

"Mr. Tang. It would help calm my nerves a lot if you could tell me why you called me here today. Were you not pleased with the art commission you receive? I can fix whatever that doesn't please you through an email." I almost wanted to kneel on the floor to beg for my life.

"There is nothing wrong with the work you have done. On the contrary, I am very pleased with your work. I can tell you have a talented artist that Glory Co. have let go and put to waste. Naomi, for a lack of better works, I want to invest in you." Tang ShuSen said with a serious face.

"If you are doing this because I'm a friend of your daughter's, there is no need. Things aren't going too badly for now currently."

"Ah. You think I'm doing this out of pity or Tang Rou asked me to do this. That isn't the case at all. You see Naomi, I know a diamond in the rough when I see one. You have been thinking too small. Are you happy to just work on and off for publish Company X for an average of 1500 RMB per month? Also, your commissions on weibo and deal with Tiny Herb. Are those small projects enough to satisfy you?

You could be doing so much more to capitalize on your fame for work for the game Glory! Don't you want to do more?" Tang ShuSen spoke inspirationally.

I was beginning to see how Tang ShuSen became one of the most successful business man in China. He was really good at selling ideas and persuading people.

"I want to make White Robed Witch and other Glory related items. But Glory Co. have blacklisted me as an artist." I half admitted and half complained.

"You leave that to me. When they find out they have a big company backing you, I'm sure they will be singing a very different tune."

"Ah?" I know I sounded dumb just now. But I really thought I heard wrong.

"I have been keeping an eye on the international Glory market for a while. When Glory Co. launched the first scaled figure in their line, it didn't just shake the market in China but worldwide. The potential growth in the worldwide market is bigger than I first thought. If I can get you - the original designer, artist, and sculptor - on board with my company, I think both of us could be very happy."

"I feel like there is a but coming up somewhere." I was still a bit doubtful.

"I do admit that I am pretty unfamiliar with a lot of things related to Glory and what young people like nowadays. If you have any old contact you can recommend, that would be helpful to start up your figure company. That company will of course be under the Tang Corporation umbrella. I also reserve all rights to terminate that company if the returns aren't good as predicted. We can go into details about all of that later."

"My...my own company? That's a big responsibility." I paled at the idea of becoming someone like Tang ShuSen and managing other people. I already had a few people I could ask to jump from the Glory Co. ship. But even with them, I doubt we could start up and manage a company.

"Haha." Tang ShuSen laughed at my impression and immediately guessed my worries. "Don't worry. You don't have to do too much. It's only your company in name. Tang Corporation will be doing most of the management and number. You can just do what you like to do the most."

"That sounds ideal." Too perfect, but I was starting to be entranced by the idea.

x

"Before you get too exciting. I do have a condition before we absorb you into our company."

"Which is?" I knew the deal was just too good.

"I want to send you to study art and sculpting overseas in England for one semester. I think it will help learn new techniques and refine your own style.

"Ah?" That condition was very unexpected. "England? That sounds expensive. As much as I would like that opportunity, I don't think I can afford that." I sighed heavily as I tried to think of how much money I have in the bank versus cost of living in London.

"That sound like a yes! Consider the semester abroad a sign-on bonus. Everything will be set up and paid for by the company."

"Oh. Sign me up for that then!" Tang ShuSen and I shook hands after the initial agreements.

"Now we have finished with the business part, tell me how my little Tang Rou is doing! Is she still have fun? Is everyone on the team nice to her?" Tang ShuSen immediately turned from a serious business person to a doting father. I laughed dryly at the turn of events. At least, everyone at Happy had sufficiently prepared me for this.

End of August, before the start of the first match of 11th Glory professional season, I left City H, China to head to City L, England.

* * *

(1) Think of the Sims character creator.


	66. Back Again! & Epilogue

Last chapter! I guess beware of minor spoiler in Epilogue?

* * *

University semester in London didn't start until late September. This gave me plenty of time to settle into my little studio apartment near campus.

It was a bit lonely to be in this big city in a far off country. It was also odd for me to go back to school. Never in my life would I had thought that I would go back to school; I seriously had nightmares about this for a couple night before and after moving.

Other than a few downside to my temporary move, I enjoyed many other types of benefits. The student life seems pretty slow paced. There were any taste shops around campus and my apartment. And the best part out of everything, I was not a famous person here. I could enjoy my daily life without the fear of being stalked by the paparazzi. Well, I wasn't that well known on campus until something happened during the student welcome week.

I was surprised Glory was very popular in England too. During the student welcome week on campus, Glory was pretty much what everyone was talking about. However instead of talking about the Chinese teams, the locals were talking about their favorite English teams. There were many English pro teams that fought in a national scale tournament, similar to what they do in China.

One of the events the university held during the student welcome week was actually Glory related. The London team, named Sprout, send two of their players to the campus for an fan event. Supposedly, those two were once students from this university. Anyways, there was a chance to get their signature and even to play against one of them.

x

When I saw the bright banners about the Glory fan meet up, I tried to avoid the event area like the plague. I really wasn't planning to get involved in any of this, but in the end I couldn't avoid it either. Everyone knew Glory is a Chinese video game. And as the new Chinese transfer student this semester, everyone insisted that I test out the strength of the English pro players for myself. So here I was, forced to sit in front of a computer to play against one of the pro players from Sprout.

"What class do you play?" My opponent asked me. I think the fan girls were calling him Eric, so we will go with that.

"Battle Mage."

"So old fashioned." Eric commented off handedly when he handed a clean maxed level Battle Mage account card.

"Old fashioned? What do you mean?" I blinked confused at the statement.

"I know a Battle Mage led one of the Chinese teams to victory a couple times in the past, but that hasn't worked out so well for that team has it? I heard they recently disbanded. That just shows it is an outdated class. Don't worry, I will go easy on you because you are cute." Eric winked at me.

"..."

I'm so going to kick his butt, in game at least.

x

DEFEATED!

The loud crowd turned completely silent. Eric sat in front of his screen in complete shock. Defeated. How? How can someone like him from one of a prestige team that was favored to win the champion this year lose to a nobody? How?

"Thanks for going easy on me." I thanked my opponent and got up to leave. The crowd wordlessly parted a path for me.

"Y-yea." Eric said shakily in his seat. His eye still on the screen. His brain replaying the whole match.

It was true that he completely underestimated his opponent and went easy on her; it wouldn't look if he bullied a normal player too much. It was also true that he wasn't used his team character. Eric smiled bitterly to himself. He knew those were excuses to make himself feel better. The truth was, "She is strong."

"Was she that strong?" His teammate had unknowing come up to check on him.

"Yea." Eric nodded. "Don't estimate her."

"Hey. How about a match with me too?" Eric's teammate called before I managed to disappeared from the scene.

"Eh? Me again? How about give other people a chance?" Why did I have a deja vu moment from the All-Star Weekend two years ago when Tang Rou and Du Ming continued to duked it out on stage until Ye Xiu dragged her off stage. Too bad Old Ye wasn't here to help me out too. I wanted to cry.

x

"Eric went too easy on her!"

"I knew it! Her first win was just a fluke."

"Sprout is the best!"

The crowd me around me cheered when my character fell at my opponent's feet.

My opponent used a knight. With the class's high defense, high HP, and crowd control skills, he was a tough and a really annoying opponent to fight. I could also tell, he definitely fought me more seriously than the last guy. Even when I tossed out a Dragon Raises its Head in the battle to surprise him, my opponent countered calmly.

It also didn't help that I made a few mistakes here and there. The most common mistake I kept on making was pressing the nonexistent teleport key out of habit and another skill would appear. I was really not used to any other characters other than my White Robed Witch. All the characters are region locked to the game. I couldn't play White Robed Witch in the England server. It was probably a good thing that I couldn't since that would draw way too much attention anyways.

"Er...I'm going to take off now." I rushed off as fast as I could this time before anyone could stop me again.

"Hold on!" The knight player tried to stop me, but the crowd swallowed him and his teammate up for the general after match congratulations and autographs.

"What do you think Bai Shu?" Eric whispered to his teammate within the crowd of people.

"She is good."

To everyone else, Dragon Raises its Head wasn't memorable because it didn't hit in the end. But to Bai Shu, it was definitely memorable.

x

After that event, I became pretty popular in school. Everyone wanted to fight me 1-on-1 in the arena outside of class. And according to rumors that I didn't want to personally confirm, players from Sprout started showing up at school almost weekly looking for me. Needless to say, I avoided everyone with my awesome ninja skills outside of classes that could maybe even make Mo Fan proud. Was I cursed to not be able to live a peaceful life anywhere?

I can run and I can hide, but somehow those people from Sprout still found me using their stardom power.

"Stop stalking me!" I yelled at Eric and his knight friend when they showed up on my front door.

"Er… You have one of our team account cards." Eric explained.

"...Oh. Sorry." I guess when I was in a hurry leaving that day, I did take the account card with.

"Since we are already here, let's battle again." Eric grinned like a sly fox.

"Hm...in case you haven't noticed. My place is tiny. I don't have a computer that can run Glory here either." I could help but to pointed out the obvious. "Besides, what would my neighbors think if they saw me invite in two random guys into my place? I would totally be unmarriable."

"Oh then, you can come to our team facility! You don't have class today anyways! This is Bai Shu by the way. Let's go!" Eric started to drag me towards a unmarked van.

Thus, I was kidnapped.

x

3 month later...

It was December 24th. It wasn't Christmas Day yet, but everyone at Happy was opening up the presents prepared by Chen Guo. Chen Guo had worked hard planning out the gift event for everyone at Happy, but it was ruined by a few people coming into the training room when she was setting things up.

After everyone picked out their gift, Chen Guo opened the last two. One was Ye Xiu and Su MuCheng's signature on a card, and the other one was something mailed in by Naomi.

"Everyone come and sign this." She called everyone around the last gift.

She passed the book from person to person to be signed. The team had a lively signing session. Everyone was making fun of everyone else's signature.

"Naomi really did a good job on this." Chen Guo smiled as she flipped through the book after everyone had signed it.

"It looks like XiaoBaiBai is good at something besides finding trouble." Ye Xiu commented from the side.

"What as that!? Is someone shameless talking badly about me?" I pushed opened the door with a bang. The snow that still stuck to my thick winter gear seemed to melt under my rage.

"Ah XiaoBaiBai!"

"Naomi!"

"Sis!"

Everyone in the room jumped at the sudden bang and my sudden appearance.

x

I knew that Chen Guo was planning the Christmas event for Happy because she asked for a copy of the art book early. That was precisely why I rushed back from London early hoping to see their reaction to opening up the art book for the first time. But, it seemed like I had missed that chance since the team opened the presents early.

"What was that about me good at finding trouble!?" I left my suitcase in the doorway, walked up to Ye Xiu, and put him in a headlock before I did anything else. "Whose fault it is that I get into a lot of those trouble!?"

"You can't blame me for everything either. Did you get stronger while in London? What did they feed you there? It hurts! Ah! Everyone come and help! I'm going to die!" Ye Xiu yelled at the others.

Even though I left for 3 month, everything stayed the exactly the same. I felt right at home.

x

Sometime after the Pro Alliance winter transfer window…

[Hi everyone. I'm Bai Shu from team 301 Degrees. Nice to meet you.] Tide posted in the pro alliance chat.

Between all the greetings from the pro players, the White Robed Witch wrote, [Eh? Bai Shu, what are you doing here? In China? This is Naomi BTW.]

[Ah Naomi! I came because of you actually. I wanted to fight you at full power. You couldn't fight with your main account in London due to the region lock. We can battle it out on even grounds now.]

[O.O], [!], or [A confession! (告白)] Many pro players posted in the chat.

[Also, you told me the Chinese players are really strong. Stronger than you. So I wanted to come and see for myself.]

[Who are you? Who are you? Who do you think you are? Huh? Huh? Huh? How long have you even know her before you followed her back to China like a lovesick puppy dog? Is this one sided? Does she even like you? Huh? Huh? Huh? I got it. It's just your wishful thinking! (自作多情) Hahahaha.]

[System Notice: Troubling Rain has been kicked out of Glory Professional Player group.] And the chat was silent once again.

[Oi. Don't bother our XiaoBaiBai too much new guy. Or we will kick you out.] Lord Grim announced in chat.

[En (嗯)(1)] Desert Dust surprisingly added.

[System Notice: Troubling Rain has been added to Glory Professional Player group.]

[Screw you! Screw you! Screw you! Screw you! Screw you! Screw you Ye Xiu!] Troubling Rain started spamming immediately.

[If you want to chase after (追) our XiaoBaiBai, take a number and get in line.] Lord Grim posted while completely ignoring Troubling Rain.

[+1] More players typed into chat this time. The massive amount of [+1] messages pushed the previous message from Lord Grim far off the screen.

[Sorry I AFKed. I was called away from my computer. What happened?] The White Robed Witch typed a few seconds later.

[Don't worry about it!] Almost everyone instantly typed back. That pushed Lord Grim's message that no one wanted Naomi to see further up into the chat.

[Ok...?]

* * *

Epilogue

At the award ceremony of the first Glory World Cup, I introduced the first figure in product line to the world. My own figure and art company was born with the sponsorship of Tang Corporation.

"Hi Everyone! Are you excited to see the final product of what Naomi has been working on up until now? It's definitely a product that won't disappoint!" YueHua yelled into the mic, trying to hype up the crowd.

"Just a reminder. This pre-order is open to everyone worldwide. We are offering worldwide insured shipping, with extra cost, directly from the company." Lin added.

"I'm excited to present you my first figure: The White Robed Witch. This figure is sculpted based on how I image her to be when I designed her in the very beginning. I hope everyone will be excited to pre-order her. We are going to open her pre-order up right now, on stage!" I joined YueHua and Lin on stage.

"What are you waiting for? Orders yours today!" YueHua, Lin, and I yelled into the mic at the same time.

* * *

Wow! 65 chapter. Thank you everyone for reading from beginning to end. Special thank yous to people who followed this story back when I posted the first chapter. I can't believe it has been almost a whole year! Sorry if some people felt this was dragged out longer than it should have been. I do admit there were a few chapter here and there that wasn't very exciting/not much content/filler.

Also sorry if the ending wasn't really what people expected, but I think it matches the overall fun tone of the story. At least I hope the story was something fun for people to read. I just couldn't decide on a pairing at the end, so I'm just leaving it open ended. I will admit that in the initial writing of the fanfic, it was suppose to be an eventual Naomi X WJX fanfic.

It has been a learning year for me on how to write better. Hopefully you have seen improvements in writing and flow of plot, maybe not haha. I'm still terrible at writing. Unsure if I will be writing another fanfic anytime soon or ever again. It is really tough to be an author haha.

I still have a few pages of ideas and alternate plots that never made it into the story. Let me know if there are any interest to read some the other ideas I had once upon a time.

Oh, a Vaccaria x White Robed Witch AU sidestory requested by a reader is in the works, so that will be coming out soon I hope? Hit a block about half way through writing that unfortunate.

I'm just rambling now... Anyways, thank you for reading The White Robed Witch! Bye everyone!


	67. The B-Roll! Extras and Outtakes 1

Hi Everyone!

It has been a really long time. I didn't forget to work on stuff per se. I just got side tracked/busy/addicted to playing Dragalia Lost for the last two month...I'm SORRY! OTZ

As promised, there are some extra material for the story from the B-roll. Please be warned that there will be **spoiler material** from the end of the novel. I have put those material at the end with a warning. There will also be **a lot of things that's just my personal view** on the plot and character relationships. If you don't agree or like, that's perfectly fine since a lot of relationship in the novel was pretty open to interpretations. I know a lot of people feel strongly about some shippings/parings, but please don't hate too much w Thanks!

* * *

Per request: a list of the top 20 characters* who have "grabbed a number in line"/have a interest in Naomi minus SMQ, because he would be number one + some author's thoughts.

*Actual characters from the novel. There would be a lot of random fans in between each person otherwise. It would be like HWQ then 2-20. Fans lol.

1\. Han WenQing - I think? Kinda? Possible?

In the beginning (like when Glory was a new game), he only noticed Naomi/TWRW because she hang around strong people. But was a bit disappointed by how weak she was. However, once Naomi had gotten her event gear, he became more interested in the character and the player.

He also became kinder and protective to Naomi when Naomi got cyber bullied due to her godly gears. Because he is a bit older than Naomi (6-7yrs older) and too concentrating on winning the championship, he convinced himself he is Naomi's Glory dad/older brother figure. Maybe he will figure out his feeling for Naomi one day after he steps down/retire from the main team. Hopefully Naomi won't be taken by then. GL Old Han!

2&3\. Zhou YeBai & Xiao Yun - No way

These are the two male substitute players from Tiny Herb if their names don't ring a bell. They developed a crush for Naomi since the first time they met her at the Tiny Herb's Christmas party.

4\. Deng FuSheng - Maybe? Not likely

The retired Vice Captain of Tiny Herb. After talking to Naomi a couple times, he found Naomi very easy to talk to her and started to like her.

5\. Gao YingJie - lol

Grabbed a number for his captain. He is rooting for Naomi/Wang JieXi since the idea popped into his head.

6\. Zhou ZeKai - Poor guy

He likes Naomi for her art. He really like her sketch of her character because the drawing depicts exactly how he feels about his alter ego look in game. Even though he is the number one sharpshooter currently in Glory, he is quiet shy in person, and becomes even more shy and nervous around Naomi. He genuinely just enjoys just being in the same room as Naomi. This feels more like a puppy crush that won't get anywhere, but he is slowly working up the courage to say a few words to her.

7\. Wang JieXi - Maybe?

He disliked Naomi at first since he thought she was someone who liked to bend/break rule, like weaseling her way into Tiny Herb's Christmas party. He also worry about Naomi spying on his team for someone else for a while.

He then tolerated Naomi's presence at Tiny Herb since it was for work but still kept her at an arm's length. He only started to try to understand Naomi after she called him and the whole team out for bullying her brother.

Later, WJX began to respect Naomi and tries to get to know her more. Little by little, he began to be interested in Naomi and might even like her to a certain agree. It is uncertain he will act on his feelings though since it would interfere with his career - he is at the prime of career.

8\. Huang ShaoTian - They would chew each other heads off on some days

HST developed an interest in Naomi when he saw her match against HWQ at All-Star weekend. He disliked Naomi a bit after she didn't let him in her room to look at TWRW's stats and equipment. He still have a love and hate relationship with Naomi. He is aware of his budding feelings for Naomi, but he just won't believe/admit he likes someone so annoying.

9-14. Zheng Xuan, Song Xiao, Li Yuan, Xu JingXi, Yu Feng, and Lin Feng

All players from Blue Rain. Since Blue Rain do not have any female players, they are prone to develop crushes to any female players in the pro alliance. It also didn't help that Naomi gave the team cake to cheer them up after their loss at the season 8 championship finals. They only will admire from afar. They know they don't have any chance if they have to fight against their Captain, Vice Captain, or the other gods.

15\. Sun MingJin

A player from 301 degree. In HST's words, he would hit on anything that have boobs. Nuf said.

16\. Yu WenZhou - Naomi's parents like this one

One of the players who saw Naomi in her evening gown in the hotel hobby during the season 8 awards banquet. He felt his heart beat a bit faster when he saw her glide across lobby and out to the car. He was in a daze until a team member rushed to find him to let him know HST went missing. He does like Naomi because she is nice to his team members and can even deal with HST to a certain degree.

17-19. Conquering Cloud, Radiant, Parade's guild masters

They are more starstruck than anything else.

20\. Blue Bridge Spring Snow/Xu BoYuan - He so cute. I wished I tried hard enough to make it work

He admires Naomi/TWRW like he admires players from Blue Rain. He have a crush on Naomi since she is one of the few/the only female that defeated him on his main account.

He was suppose to have a slightly bigger role in the story. He was actually a candidate for a possible love interest for Naomi. Somehow I just couldn't find a spot to write more about him and then a third of the way through the plot, I somehow changed direction on the story completely...

He was suppose to be a big fan of Naomi and her work. Naomi in the original plot was suppose to have finished Troubling Rain figure before she left/quit/or fired. Troubling Rain was also supposed to be made before Desert Dust. There was suppose to be a fan event where Naomi and Little Blue met. At the event, Naomi gave away a few of her works for free via a lottery system. Little Blue didn't get drawn and was really disappointed. Then at an autograph session afterwards, Little Blue told how much of a fan he was of her work and blabbed cutely before running away embarrassed. That made him a bit memorable to Naomi from the event.

Naomi then contact Little Blue privately since during Little Blue's rambling, he mentioned he was Blue Bridge Spring Snow. Naomi then gave him one of her personal Troubling Rain figures* she received to commemorate the Trouble Rain figure release. Then, they go out for coffee and eventually maybe the two gets married and she moves down to City G since she couldn't convince him to move.

*She was given two from the company. One for display and one to be stored in mint condition.

Idk why, Little Blue was like the only marriable character that jumped out to me on this list. Maybe everyone else is too busy playing Glory professionally, and don't have time to date and start a family. Buuut, that is just my opinion.

* * *

I'm sure some of would you wonder where Ye Xiu is. I would place him at the 50th+ spot. Why is Ye Xiu so far behind the list? Well, in my opinion he didn't see Naomi as a possible love interest until much, much later.

For a long time, he only thought about Glory and taking care of Su MuCheng. He always thought of Naomi as just someone who played Glory with him with Su MuQiu for a long time. He also probably intentionally suppressed/never developed any extra feelings for Naomi because he knew Su MuQiu liked her.

I personally feel that Su MuCheng likes Ye Xiu more than an older brother figure. However, Ye Xiu only sees her as a younger sister or someone he needs to take care off because he feels like he owe it to Su MuQiu. Please note, this is just my view on the novel and character relations. If you don't agree/like this view, please don't be mean about it.

Once Ye Xiu and Su MuCheng figured out their relationship/friendship, Ye Xiu would realize how much Naomi had done for him and help him reach his dream. Then, maybe he would start to have budding feelings for Naomi.

* * *

 **Spoiler material from this line downwards. You have been warned!**

* * *

What about poor Su MuCheng you ask? I actually think Su MuCheng and Fang Rui would make a cute couple, taking care of Happy together after Ye Xiu and Wei Chen retires. But that's just another personal opinion.

* * *

This was supposed to be the ending once upon a time/a long time ago:

There was a snippet/scene I wrote out a while ago for Ye Xiu's confession during one of the revisions that never made it into the final story. Note, in this ending Naomi still works for Glory Co. She either never got fired or got rehired.

It was during the World Championship in Zurich, Switzerland. Naomi went with the rest of the China Glory Team to advertise Glory figures to the whole world. During the first couple days, all the teams competing were getting used to being in a whole different country and living situation. While the teams were all relaxing before the matches, Naomi ran into with her ex - who was a player on the US team - during a walk in the city alone.

In this revision, Naomi and her ex are still on bad terms. Her ex got physically aggressive, and was grabbing, pushing and shoving Naomi. Ye Xiu stepped in to block an especially hard shove for Naomi and was pushed to the ground where he scraped his hands.

"Why you do that you idiot! Your hands. That's your livelihood. Your career. What about the matches." I held Ye Xiu's hands in mine worriedly, examining the scraps on the palms. I felt the tears coming.

"It's fine. It's only a small scratch. You are more important anyways." He smiled at me with no regret. I didn't miss the hidden meaning behind his words. My heart thumped in my chest. I had locked away my heart and swore to never love again. But this man and his action somehow slowly opened every lock and made his way to my heart. "Besides, I'm retired now and I'm only here as a sub. They probably won't need me unless they get food poisoning or something. So it's fine."

"You are still an idiot." I hugged him around the middle and cried into his shoulder. "Idiot, idiot, idiot."

"I know." He rubbed circles into my back and put his chin on top of my head. At least he was smart enough to know not to argue back in this moment.

The scene was suppose to be with Ye Xiu like this, but the scene would have worked with any other character that was supposed to end up with Naomi. I kept on changing who Naomi should end up with. Then I just couldn't come up with enough plot to develop realistic romance ending for Naomi. So, that's how and why the story now have a super open official ending.

* * *

Some of you might be wondering where that AU White Witch/Vaccaria one-shot is. I have been working on it on and off, but I'm still stuck on plot/writer's block. So yea, that's where I am with that unfortunately.

Let me know if you guys like seeing and want to see more extra stuff and outtakes like this so I know if I should keep on posting them. Happy Thanksgiving/Holidays!


	68. AU Side Story:The Witch and the Magician

A fanfic written by YueHua in reference to the picture set as her phone background in chapter 62: But...I don't want first place.

* * *

Once upon a time, there was a land where magic and dragons were real.

Under a full moon, the moon blessed a child with powerful ice magic was born. As she grew, so did her magic. Her powers were so strong that her emotions could affect easily the weather. It didn't matter if she was kind and had never hurt anyone. Due to her strong powers, people far and wide feared her as the White Robed Witch.

The Witch was chased out of any town she stayed at. It didn't matter if she in the outskirt of the towns; she was unwelcomed everywhere. Eventually, platoons of knights were even sent by the kingdom to hunt her down.

Out of fear for the knights and her own safety, the Witch casted a curse upon a forest in the middle of nowhere and made it her frozen home. From that moment forward, the forest was in eternal winter. The trees were covered in ice that was never melting. Those who tried to set foot in her home would become lost in the maze of frozen trees and unending blizzard. Eventually, the sick and dying sought out a peaceful eternal sleep by entering her forest.

x

For a few years, the Witch managed to live peacefully in her self-made kingdom.

Perhaps all everyone would have lived peacefully if they just left the Witch alone. But alas, people fear the unknown. People feared that the Witch was brewing up revenge during the years that she had hid away. The kingdom searched high and low for someone who could defeat the Witch and bring peace to the lands.

Eventually, the kingdom found a traveling magician from a distant land by the name of Vaccaria. It was rumored that this magician had offended the stars and was cursed with the great power. Even though the magician sealed part of his powers with an eye magical patch, he still could still wield great magic. Vaccaria was sought out and invited to have an audience with the king of the kingdom.

"Oh great traveling magician Vaccaria, please bring peace to all the lands by defeat this menace in my kingdom." The King pleaded to the great wizard.

"I have often heard of talks of the Witch during my travels, but what exactly has she done?" The wizard asked. He wasn't one that would hurt others just for money or fame. He lived by his own code; he was a righteous wizard.

"If you have heard of her, the you must know she have mercilessly killed many innocents by freezing them alive in her cursed forest. If you go into the frozen forest, you can see all the people she froze. Her reign of terror must be stopped!"

"Very well. I shall go see this forest with my eyes. If it is as you said, I shall deal with the Witch accordingly."

"If you can bring me the Witch, dead or alive, I can give you all the money, wealth, land you desire!" The King offered graciously.

"I have no interest in your materialistic offerings, oh Great King." Vaccaria shook his head for he was not tempted.

"Then is it status you seek?"

"No. I do not seek that either."

"Then what is it that you seek?" The King was curious.

"Oh King. I am a lonely Magician. The only thing I seek is the companionship of an equal." Vaccaria replied with a pained look on his face.

The King roared in laughter. "If that is all you seek, then you may choose any one in my kingdom that you see fit to be your companion."

With the promise from the King, Vaccaria heads out to the Witch's frozen forest.

x

The Witch was cleaning her little hut when she felt a great disturbance in her forest. Somehow, her ice scape that could not be melted by dragon flames and chipped by cannons was razed in front of her eyes. In the sky above the destroyed forest stood a lone figure on a broom. This power was something she had never felt before; it was a power that might even rival her own.

For the first time in a very long time, she felt fear. At the rate the flames are spreading, this place she called home will be destroyed soon. She contemplated if she should flee or attempt to save her home. While the Witch lacked emotions, she would still avoid killing when possible. With a final glance at her little hut that was her home, she decided to run away.

"Your wickedness shall not spread any further."

Magical energy shot down from the sky, stopping the Witch on her tracks.

"I have done nothing, yet you say I'm wicked. What proof do you have?" The Witch glared.

"I have seen all the people lay froze in your forest. The old, the young, the sick, the poor, do you spare no one?" The Magician said through his clenched jaw.

"I have done no such thing." The Witch denied.

"How can you deny your actions when all the corpses lay in your forest. I shall stop your wickedness once for all." Vaccaria announced as he attacked.

x

Powers of ice and the stars clashed for three days and three night without rest. By the end of the third day, both the Witch and Magician had fatigued significantly. Just as the Witch seemed like she was finally going to gain the upperhand during the final clash, a magic prison trapped the two. The Witch and Magician struggled in the prison made of a eerier dark light, but the prison rendered the weakened two powerless.

"What is the meaning of this, King?" Vaccaria asked the figure who stood behind the Wizards of the king's high court.

"I was just giving you a helping and since it looked like you were losing. Oh don't be that surprised, Traveling Magician. While the kingdom feared the White Robed Witch, we fear you just as much."

"Why?" Vaccaria demanded calmly.

"You asked for an equal. But the truth is there is no one in the kingdom that can match your power, besides the White Robed Witch. By sending you to off each other was two birds with one stone." The king laughed.

"Then, those bodies. What of all those bodies?" Vaccaria asked.

"Those paupers probably came of their own free will since they can't afford a burial ground." The King shrugged.

"...So I have been tricked..." Vaccaria fell silent after the realization. He felt ashamed. He made a vow that he would only use his powers to punish the wicked, but he had put an innocent in danger. He must write his wrongs. "If it is the last thing I do, I will save you." Vaccaria whispered to the White Robed Witch next to him and torn off his eye patched.

x

Vaccaria released his full power to break out of the magic prison. But even so, it was one against an army. Slowly, he was losing the battle. A flock of arrows flew his way. Vaccaria prepared for the worst, but the arrows never reached him.

"I'm not that fragile. I don't need you to protect me." The White Robed Witch stepped next Vaccaria as his equal, and casted a wall made of ice that protected him.

When the two fought together, their power given by the moon and stars synchronized and amplified each other. After a hard battle, the White Robed Witch and Vaccaria was victorious against the evil king and army. The two fell in love and lived happily forever in an ice dungeon they created in the forest. Each night, the two would sit on a hill and watch the stars and moon together.

The End.

* * *

YueHua: So what do you think of my fanfic story?

Naomi: I think it started out pretty good, but I'm confused at the ending.

YueHua: What is there to be confused about? I think it's pretty great.

Naomi: I fail to see how the two fell in love after a battle together. Seems very sudden.

YueHua: Because all they were each other's equal, so they were meant for each other. Besides their powers were given by the moon and stars? So they were the perfect match for each other. Get it?

Naomi: ...Not really. It still doesn't make any sense.

YueHua: It's a fairy tale, it doesn't have to make any sense! Humph. (Stomps off angry).

* * *

A/N: Not my best work since my writer's block never fully resolved...so this is what I was left with. I swear playing too much mobile games makes me dumb, but they are so addicting. Can't stop, won't stop. xD; But I did need to take a break from farming two events.

There was a question about if I was going to move my Log Horizon fanfic over from AO3. The short answer is no. It's on indefinite hiatus. I haven't worked on it over an year now since I have lost interest in the series for the time being. If you like to read it, please head over to AO3. Thanks!


	69. The B-Roll! Extras and Outtakes 2

This is the second and the last extras and outtakes chapter! I don't have too many more interesting notes left after these. Not sure what I will be doing in the future yet. I will most likely reread TKA and edit the older chapters. Other than that, maybe self learn how to draw again too. Thanks for all the reads and support!

* * *

Naomi's reaction to fan requests on Weibo (the more interesting requests)

I3Oreo3653: Could you draw The Witch Robed Witch as a male?

Naomi: I guess?

PuppyDogLuver: Can you draw the epic moment when TWRW used her Frostbitten Kiss on Vaccaria?

Naomi: Why are people still obsessed with that?

YueHua: That was the moment that sparked TWRW x Vaccaria ship!

Naomi: I regret everything OTZ

Various Weibo accounts: Can you draw TWRW x various famous Glory characters.

Naomi: Bleh. Why are people are so obsessed with ships?

YueHua: Don't worry about all the ship, just shipTWRW x Vaccaria. It's the only correct ship! HAHAHA

Naomi: Look it's ZZK! -Tosses a ZZK plush out the door-

YueHua: OMG! -runs out of the door in full fangirl mode-

Naom: Phew. Let us continue.

LetItGo4Life: Can you plz draw TWRW wearing Elsa's dress from Frozen?

Naomi: Will have to decline this request. I think Disney would sue?

Various Weibo accounts: Can you genderbend various famous Glory characters?

Naomi: -ROFL- I can just imagine Lord Grim being Lady Grim, all of them in skimpy female gears! Ahahah. This will be fun, let's get started!

AsiaPrincess115: Can you draw TWRW in Vaccaria's cloth and vice versa?

Naomi: -Flips the table- YueHua! I know this is you!

* * *

Alternative scene to Old Han's apology that was taken out/changed due to a flaw in the match schedule I found with timeline. The apology was supposed to be sooner and more dramatic.

I had already washed up and dressed in PJs a quarter after 11pm when someone knocked on my door. I grunted in displeasure. Who in the right mind was knocking this late? Anything could wait until tomorrow at this point! I quickly grabbed my warm fuzzy robe and went to get the door. When I peeked through the peephole on the door, I was in a bit of shock. His hair a bit messier than normal like he had been drinking; Captain Han WenQing was outside my door. Should I open up or not…?

"Hey, Brat. Open up." He said when he heard soft footsteps approach the door.

"…" I didn't response. My hand hovered above the deadbolt and lock. There were many questions in my head like why he was here. What he had to say. What I should say to him. But what I wanted to know the most was how he found out where I lived.

"What do you want?" I demanded once he closed the door behind him so it was only he and I. Even though he was taller than me by at least a whole head, I still glared at the man with my arms crossed in front of me.

"I'm sorry." To my biggest surprise for the night, he got down on both knees and bowed his head down until it hit the floor.

"Wha? What are you doing? Get up." I became flustered. I was prepared to rip him a while one when he entered. But in all of my years alive, I never had someone apologize to me in this fashion. It was so old fashioned and corny like something out of a drama. I wasn't sure what to do at his gesture.

"I shouldn't have taken all my anger out on your like a punching bag. I'm an idiot." He continued without raising his head.

* * *

Since we are on the topic of Old Han. Here is another alternative scene that I took out because I didn't think it was PG enough. This was when Naomi was at City Q on the first day. Old Han trapped her in the chair scene.

Through his thin white T-shirt, I could make out his toned muscles underneath. He had a great body, I couldn't help but to notice. ...Wait, wait, wait. Hit the mental brakes Naomi! He was your friend. Look elsewhere!

My eyes darted from his chest up to his face and saw him looking down at me with a fiery gaze. I couldn't but to feel a bit intimidated and shy under his intense stare. If I closed my eyes, I could smell a pleasant scent from him. I wondered what men's body wash he used; it was very manly. Whoa, whao, whao there Naomi, your mind was wandering down the wrong streets again!

-Insert anime nosebleed here-

Naomi have fainted from dirty thoughts and loss of blood.

* * *

YueHua set up a 'Draw with Naomi' event at an ACG convention. The room was packed with anticipating fans to learn Naomi's art secrets.

Naomi: Okay everyone has paper and pencil right? Let's get started. First draw some circles and ovals like this.

Audience: -draws circles and ovals-

Naomi: Now draw some lines to connect those circles and ovals.

Audience: -draws lines-

Naomi: Then draw more lines like this. Hya! Ha! Pew pew! Aiya! Pow!

Audience: -jaw drop-

Naomi: We are almost there. Don't give up now! For the finishing touches toss some magic glitter on it so it will look good no matter what. Bam! Now it's done. -shows off another masterpiece- Easy right? -smile innocently-

Audience: -toss paper and pencil onto the floor and walks out-

Naomi: I think that was a pretty good turn out don't you think?

YueHua: Face palms.

Needless to say, all similar events at future cons were cancelled.

A/N: This is how I feel whenever I watch or read how to draw tutorials.

* * *

I had planned a moment for Naomi to go visit SMQ together with SMC, YX, along with Chen Guo on QingMing Festival, but then realized that day fell on a weekend. And Naomi needed to be a guest every weekend until end of the season so she could fight every single team in time. This was a cute scene where all the girls went to pick out flowers from the flower shop outside of the cemetery.

"I will get my dad the usual, I think." Chen Guo was the first one out of the three girls to pick out a flower to buy.

"I think this flower is pretty cool. What do you guys think?" SuSu dragged Sister Chen and I into one side of the flower shop to look at some crazy looking lilies.

"These are nice. What do you think of these for your brother?" I pointed to some bright sunflowers.

"My brother would love those!" SuSu clapped her hands together in delight when we decided on which flowers to get for Su MuQiu for QingMing Festival.

"You guys' taste in flowers is something else." Ye Xiu let out a sigh as he watched the three of us come out of the flower shop.

...later

It was decided between Ye Xiu, SuSu and I that we would share one thing that happened in the last year with MuQiu to keep things short. Or, it would probably takes us days to tell him everything that had happened in our individual lives. Ye Xiu and SuSu already went, so I was the only one left.

"I have been a guest to official Glory matches. I won some and lost some, so I think I'm doing pretty well." I recall my matches fondly.

"Mhm. So that's why you lost so bad that you cried during the first few matches of the season." Ye Xiu commented off handedly.

"Oi. It's my turn to say something to MuQiu, could you not interrupt? You already had your turn." I glared in Ye Xiu's way and then turned back to MuQiu's picture set in the stone tomb in front of me. "SuGe, look how mean Old Ye is being to me. Could you please do something about that. Can you make his toilet not flush when he have a number 2 or untie his shoelaces or something?" I tattled like a little kid to their teacher.

"Hey, don't bother him with unnecessary things." Ye Xiu scolded.

"SuSu, help." I pouted to my next savior.

"Hehe." SuSu just laughed at the situation.

"It has a been a busy year for all of us. There is too much to talk about. I will have to come back and see you another time to finish telling you about everything when there is no one to interrupt." I concluded my story to MuQiu and put down a bouquet of bright yellow sunflowers down at the small grave.

* * *

Hinted OC's

The Chinese Pharmacist Naomi went to get medications from was hinted to be related to WJX. To be his dad to be exact. The novel didn't really talk about the parents of the players at all, so I made some things up. Thought it was funny that his dad worked at a Chinese Herbal Pharmacy. And his mom, well she is one of AnChen's worker at the bakery.

* * *

[Unlocked!] Naomi's Unfortunate Ending:

After many intense battles, the Chinese Glory Team won the first Glory World Cup. Most people on the Chinese team was happy to finally return to China and get some R&R before the start of the new season. I say most people because everyone except Ye Xiu had the next Glory season to look forward to.

Everyone hurried off to connecting flight or left with their team shuttle. Lin went to get the company out of long term parking while YueHua went to file for her missing luggage. Somehow, Ye Xiu and I were the only ones waiting for a ride at the international arrival gate.

"What are your plans now?" I asked Ye Xiu. Half out of curiosity, half out of concern.

"Just going to take it easy and play some Glory." Ye Xiu let out a lazy smile while putting a cigarette between his lips.

"Sounds just like something you would do."

"I wouldn't be bored of the game even if I played for another 10 years." Ye Xiu smiled more fondly now. Most of my concern for him was put to ease when I saw that smile of his. It seemed like everything will be okay for him. "What about you? Will you be busy now with your own company?"

"Yes and no. I do have a few small project with some of the teams, but since my company is still new, we haven't gotten any big projects yet."

"Good. If you aren't too busy, help me out for a bit."

"Sure. Which boss do you need help taking down this time?"

"My parents."

"Sorry I think I heard you wrong. What did you just say?" I thought I heard wrong. I assumed Ye Xiu was asking for help to take down a new boss in Glory, but I thought he said his parents.

"I need you to pretend to be my girlfriend for a bit. You owe me from last Lunar New Years(1)." Ye Xiu said with the most natural smile ever. Compared to Ye Xiu, I looked like a fish out of the water with my mouth moving but no sound coming out.

(1)Ye Xiu was referring to the time when Naomi asked him to pretend to be her boyfriend when her parents were here. Refer to the second CNY extra chapter. Ch. 50.5-Ye Xiu route.


	70. One More Extra! Part 1

Hi Peeps! I'm back to writing more for TWRW just for a short bit. These chapters will have a different feel to them than the previous chapters, but I hope you will still enjoy them!

This is part 1/5(?) Haven't decided on the final length of the extra chapters yet. Right now 5 more parts seems about right, might be longer if needed.

After reading Frozen Rose (a WIP fanfic for TWRW on AO3), felt the urge to write just a few more ideas. I have watched the new live-action tv drama. My feelings for the live-action is...not important! But for these extra chapters, please go by the novel plot, not the live-action. The writers for the live-actions added a bit of extra stuff that doesn't exists or very different the novel. In the case of this chapter, Ye Xiu's dad is still a very strict person and against his son playing video game for a living.

* * *

Did you think that Ye Xiu and I would fall in love for real and get happily married after he shamelessly blackmailed me to be his pretend girlfriend in front of his family? That only happens in fairy tales. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I don't live in fairy tales. What actually happened at the meeting with Ye Xiu's family was probably very different than what anyone could have imagined.

x

The Ye family invited me over one Saturday to have lunch with everyone. Ye Xiu picked me up from the subway station and went over the details of our fake relationship one last time to make sure no one would mess up during our performance in front of his family.

Ye Xiu's mom seemed nice enough, or was very good at acting. She greeted me warmly when Ye Xiu and I arrived at the door. If she disliked me, I couldn't tell at all.

Ye Xiu's dad was a completely different story. He didn't like me the moment I stepped into his front gate. No, I wasn't imagining this. Ye Xiu's dad was a man that displayed his emotions right on his face.

Lastly, there was Ye Qiu, Ye Xiu's twin brother. I was completely unprepared to meet a more formally dressed Ye Xiu clone at the house. I could stare dumbly at the man with the same face during the introduction. The shock I was in! I hissed to Ye Xiu why he didn't warn me about a twin brother when we were alone for a moment. Guess how he answered?

"Oh, I didn't think he was important to mention. Just ignore him." Ye Xiu said haughtily.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at his answer.

x

The lunch was already awkward even before things went south. I had no appetite at all despite having a table full of delicious home cooked meal in front of me. But just to be polite, I ate small bites of rice from the bowl before me.

"Have some of this duck. I remember you really liked this dish when we ate out last time." Ye Xiu place a slice of roasted duck breast in my rice bowl with his chopsticks. "Have some of these greens too. My mom is a great cook." He continued to place various food in my bowl like a doting boyfriend.

"Ah. Thanks." I said a bit awkwardly. Even though this was pre-planned, it was still weird to see Ye Xiu acting this way. I was just not used to it.

"Ahem." Ye Xiu's dad cleared his throat after the act played a bit. He put down his chopsticks in a not so gentle manner. He seemed to have lost any appetite after watching his older son's lovely dovely behavior. I don't blame the guy; I would too if I had any appetite to begin with.

When the head of the household put down his chopsticks, everyone else fell quiet and did the same.

"Naomi. What is it that you do for work?" Ye Xiu's dad asked while giving me a stare down. Both Ye Xiu's mom and brother looked at me at the same time.

"Oh. I thought Ye Xiu would have told you guys already." I glanced at Ye Xiu in confusion.

"He did." Ye Xiu's dad confirmed. "But I want to hear it from you."

"Oh. Well. I recently started my own figure company. I take on figure projects from various different companies varying from animation and games."

"So, you make figurines for a living?" I could already hear the disapproval in his tone. It was the same kind of disapproval I heard from my own parents when I told them I was going to art school instead of studying something more useful. Most parents think that being an artist was an unstable job – we might be full one day and go hungry the next. I get where Ye Xiu's dad was coming from.

"Mostly. I do advertisement design and illustration projects once in a while too." I tried to expand on my previous explanation.

"But in the end, you are a toymaker." That was a statement, not a question. He disapproved of my job and my non-existent relationship with his son. There was nothing anyone could say to change Ye Xiu's father's mind.

"Dad, her job isn't just that." Ye Xiu spoke up on my behalf.

"You be quiet. I will talk to you about this later." Ye Xiu's dad shot his older son a stern look.

"Dad!" Ye Xiu wanted to say something more, but I stopped him by placing my hand on one of his clenched fists under the table.

"It's fine, Ye Xiu. He isn't wrong. Sir, that's one way to put it. To me and others, they are more like collectible 3D arts." I explained rather calmly. This wasn't my first time trying to explain what a high-quality figure was.

"No matter how you spin your words, I won't let my son date a toymaker. Don't think you can easily marry into this family!" Ye Xiu's dad did something out of an Asian drama. He took out a checkbook on the spot and said, "How much money would it take to have you leave my son? Name your price."

"Dad. You are being disrespectful to Naomi!" Ye Xiu shot up and slammed his hands into the table.

x

I inhaled deeply through my mouth and exhaled from my nose to calm myself. I somewhat expected Ye Xiu's father would demand something like this the moment I stepped into this house. Based on how gaudy the interior design was, I could tell Ye Xiu's father was a prideful man. From the way he held himself, he was also an important man with a prestigious family background. Even if his own son was a jobless man hopelessly addicted to Glory, I was still not good enough for his son.

"Ye Xiu. It's not worth it." I said to Ye Xiu. I also tugged on Ye Xiu's arm to have him sit back down, but he didn't budge. Of course, I was offended by Ye Xiu's father's biased assessment of me without knowing anything about me and my job. But, this was only a fake relationship anyways; it was not worth it to make this father and son relationship worse as it is.

"I'm not thick skinned. I know when I should take my leave. No money needed. Believe it or not, I'm not a gold digger." I stood up from the table this time to gather my belongings to leave.

"Don't go after her!" Ye Xiu's dad said when Ye Xiu turned to leave the table to walk me to the door.

"It's okay. I know where the front door is. Stay." I made the decision for Ye Xiu when I saw conflict in his eyes. I could see that Ye Xiu wanted to be on better terms with his father, but his father was being a difficult man.

"Naomi." Ye Xiu could only apologize through his eyes.

"It's okay. We will keep in touch." I reassured the guilty man.

"Yea."

x

Even though Ye Xiu and I agreed to keep in touch, we didn't see or hear from each other ever since. I was not sure what happened on Ye Xiu's side afterwards. For me, I had a ton of deadlines that kept me busy until the end of the year.


	71. One More Extra! Part 2

The turn of season was unstoppable. Summer silently faded into Autumn. Then, Autumn turned into Winter.

To some, winter was the least interesting season. Other seasons were fun and colorful, but winter was gloomy and grey. But to others, it was a season that welcomed change. I like to think the season was a blank canvas for things to come, like a field of untouched snow.

It was winter when I relocated to China for a new job. Chen Guo met YeXiu at Happy Internet Cafe in winter. YiFan first fought YeXiu in Glory in winter. YeXiu came out of retirement and made a new Glory team in winter. Lin and YueHua jumped the Glory ship to start up a new figure company with me. To me and others around me, winter was a season of new beginnings.

When my busy season finally ended, it was almost Christmas again. I gave everyone an extended time off from Christmas Eve until January 5nd because I'm the boss of my own company and I can. No one argued and opposed about the extra time off since it was they were getting paid regardless. Truth be told, we all needed some r&r after the busy season before Christmas.

Lin was going to spend time and spoil the wife and kids with good cooking. YueHua was going to Hawaii to get some sun shine on the beach, and maybe meet a guy. I finally had a chance to visit my cute little brother and the rest of Happy in City H. I was so excited since I haven't seen anyone since the Glory World Cup in the summer.

x

When I arrived at City H again, the first thing I did was hug my cute little brother; I missed him a lot. Phone calls and video chats could not replace actual social interactions. I noted YiFan had grown taller and more muscular since the last time I saw him. I'm glad he was taking care of his body and health.

"Have you been working out lately?" I asked during the cab ride back to Happy's apartment.

"Only a little. You can tell?" YiFan admitted while smiling cutely.

"Is it to impress someone? Do you have a girlfriend that I don't know about?" I teased.

YiFan choked on air and coughed. "What? No!" He denied in panic.

"That seems like a pretty extreme reaction." I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. "I will talk to the other members to see if you are hiding anything."

"I promise I don't have one Sis!"

"Just in case, I should ask SuSu and Fang Rui to increase your training time so you won't have time to run off and date." I smiled evilly.

"Sis!" YiFan flushed at my teasing, or am I teasing?

x

I enjoyed a lively Christmas eve celebration with everyone at Happy. There was a lot to celebrate this year. Happy was doing well in the league with their new captain, SuSu, and vice-captain, Fang Rui. My new small company had the blessing to received many requests to make many products for many Glory teams, anime, and other game titles.

For this year, Chen Guo booked a private room for the team at a fancy restaurant. With the exception of Ye Xiu not being there, everyone ate too much and then had a not-so secret Santa event.

Chen Guo had everyone drew names ahead of time. Everyone would buy one gift for that person and bring it wrapped to the party. At the gift exchange, you would hand deliver the gift to the person. Unlike her last gift exchange event, this went off without many issues. Everyone was satisfied with their gifts.

I was quite relieved to draw ChenGuo's name. She was much easier to get something for than some other people, like BaoZi; I don't know what goes through his head 90% of the time. At least with Chen Guo, I knew that she had started to collect scaled figures and she had expensive tastes. She had pre-ordered the White Robed Witch, and managed to buy Cloud Piercer and Desert Dust at high costs after stalking the second hand market for months. However, the Vaccaria figure kept on eluded her.

Even though Glory had a re-release of Vaccaria figure when Cloud Piercer came out, it was currently a super rare item; even more rare than a SSR character in a mobile game. Even if one did show up, it would be gone under a minute. One of the main reasons that the item was so rare because a lot of collectors liked to display Vaccaria and the White Robed Witch figures together. According to many reviews online, the two characters have a good cp(1) feel together. Sometimes I suspect if YueHua had somehow taken over the review and comment section with her fandoms.

Long story short, for Sister Chen, I gave her one of the two Vaccaria figures I received from working on the project. I had two because one was for displaying, and one for storing in mint condition. I still haven't had the time and space to set up my figure collection yet, so I decided to give one of my Vaccaria figures to make space for other future figures. ChenGuo was already on cloud 9 before I told her I had another gift prepared, but this one was for the team.

x

"Everyone, listen up! Naomi have a very important announcement." ChenGuo called for everyone's attention.

"What is it?" Everyone stopped their conversations and looked over to ChenGuo and I curiously.

"I-" I started to say when I got cut off.

"Wait! I want to guess. Did you get a boyfriend? Are you getting married? Oh I know! You got pregnant and then getting married! I notice you are looking a bit more plump than last time." BaoZi started to sprout nonsense. I swear sometimes it's like we have our own HuangShaoTian on the team.

"Really?"

"Oh yea. I think I can see the baby bump now too."

"Congratulations!"

Many congratulations came around the table.

"You are pregnant!? That means I'm going to be an uncle. Do you think I'm too young to be a good uncle?" YiFan started to ramble too.

"NO! How is me getting pregnant a gift to the team?" I glared at BaoZi for misleading everyone while calling me chubby.

"Oh, right." BaoZi thought about it more logically and shut up.

"I was going to say, my team secured the rights from Glory Co. to make a Dancing Rain figure!"

"No way!"

"That's so awesome!"

"You better make my girlfriend's character look cool!"

"Ah! You should space the figures out more! My wallet is crying already."

"...My character would be cooler."

Various responses overlapped each other.

x

Once everyone was in a food coma from the celebration, Chen Guo decided to call it a night.

"Good night Sis." YiFan gave me a languid hug. "Hope you like my gift."

YiFan was my little santa this year. His gift was a potted lily of the valley. The gift was cute because he was worried that I wasn't getting out enough for sunshine and nature. So, he wanted to bring a little bit of nature into my office. My brother was so sweet and considerate.

"I like it a lot. Good night. I will see you at Happy tomorrow." I hugged the sleepyhead back with one arm and juggled the potted plant in the other. Once I saw everyone off in a cab, I got into my own cab to head to the hotel for the night.

x

It was snowing heavily on the way to the hotel. The snow was perfect for the holiday season. I wondered if it was snowing in City B too. If it was, I bet Lin's twins would be excited to see the fresh snow when they wake up tomorrow morning, along with the presents from Santa under their pillows.

The ride to the hotel was rather uneventful. The driver wasn't talkative at all. The only noise in the car was the radio playing a mix of American and Chinese holiday songs. After a while, my brain unconsciously blocked out the radio. The only thing that held my interest was the snow outside.

It was snowing on the first day I arrived in China. I can't believe I have already been in China for 3 years. So much has happened. Somehow seeing the snow, I felt like everything had come back full circle.

"Brace yourself!" A shout from the driver's seat startled me before a loud crunch of metal met my ears.

My body slammed into the door, then my head into the window. I clutched the gift from YiFan to my body for dear life, hoping it wouldn't get damaged. It felt like I was being tossed around in the car for a long time before everything finally stopped.

When I opened my eyes again, I laid face up looking at the sky with a sad looking plant not too far away from me. I frowned. I just got that gift from YiFan and it was already ruined. A lot of the flowers already fell off and one of the flower's stem looked broken. I wondered YiFan would be mad that I didn't treasure his gift more.

Was I in pain? Was I bleeding? What happened? Those questions never reached my mind. In the moment, I noticed how beautiful the view was. When was the last time that I looked up at the sky?

Ah, this view is breathtaking. I thought tiredly. My eyelids felt heavier and heavier. When I closed my eyes, I could also hear the beautiful melody of snow fall.

I wish I could share this view with you. Have you seen anything as beautiful as this? One person was in my thoughts before darkness enveloped me.

x

Beep…Beep…Beeeeeep

x

…

x

Beep Beep Beep… Beep Beep Beep


	72. One More Extra! Part 3

Beep Beep Beep… Beep Beep Beep

x

Ah, that annoying sound. It could only mean one thing. It's time to wake up again.

I covered my head with my blanket and tried to ignore the sound of my irritating morning alarm. After the beeping noise continued for 5 minutes, I knew it wouldn't do me any good if I didn't get up soon.

I tossed the blanket off my head and stared at a streak of light on the ceiling. My small studio apartment was mostly dark expect the light was cracking through between the gap of my blackout curtains. I let out a heavy sigh.

If I don't get up soon, I would miss my morning commute and be late for work. The morning rush at the subway station was very unforgiving. You had to be early for the train you want to catch or you might miss it. If I was late for work, the tardy would be put on my work records.

It's only a tardy right? What's the big deal you might think. Punctuality was crucial in this world. First tardy would be a pay cut. Second tardy would send you to a two week long rehabilitation class without pay. Third tardy would be termination. As harsh as it seemed, that's how the world I lived in was.

x

No matter how much I didn't want to head to work, I still dragged myself out of bed. I did my morning routine, put on a pristine blouse and pencil skirt, water my pot of lily of the valley named Xiao Qiao, and left the apartment right on time with an overcoat.

I shivered visibly when the morning air hit parts of my uncovered skin during my walk to the nearby Nakameguro subway station. Despite the cold nights, plants seemed to start awaken from their winter slumber. Grass, bushes, leaves were become a more lush dark grey color by the day. There were also more flower buds on the sakura tree on the side of the roads than the day before. It won't be long before the flowers will open and shower their lovely grey petals all over the walkways like snow in spring.

Despite how chaotic the subway was with so many moving bodies moving against each other, it was quiet. Actually, the whole world was quiet. No one spoke; there would be occasion coughs and sneezes, but no one actually spoke any words. Everyone buried their faces into their smartphone all day long. Everything was communicated by text messaging and emails. The dings and buzzes of phone notifications have become just background noise.

x

The scenery after the subway ride was quite different. Besides some small trees planted for decorations, no other nature could be found in the Chuo-ku. Skyscraper office buildings and propaganda boards emphasizing conformity lined up along the roads and loomed over the people below.

I headed to my normal coffee shop for my morning dose of caffeine by the station after the morning commute. After standing in line for a while, I ordered my drink through a one item touch screen menu and paid with a tap of my phone. The cashier behind the screen would hand me the lukewarm drink and bow wordlessly after each transaction to thank each customer for their patronage.

My work building was only around the block from the coffee shop. It only took me 5 minutes to reach if I walked briskly. The first thing everyone had to do was go to their assigned locker and change into their company issued uniform. The said uniform was a grey jumpsuit with your employee number tag sewn on to the left breast pocket. It was only then could you punch in for the day and head to your assigned cubicle. I arrived in my cubicle with my coffee with minutes to spare from 9AM. I sipped my coffee and waited for the countdown to 9AM.

Between the hours of 9 in the morning and 5 in the afternoon, I would sit at my small cubicle in a big office building working. There was a lunch break from noon to 1. Everyone was expected to start only when the clock turns 9, leave their cubicle for lunch exactly at 12, return to work exactly at 1, and leave for the day exactly at 5. Everything had to be exact.

Everyone was also required to eat in the cafeteria and the cafeteria food. Food from outside the cafeteria was not allowed. Everyone had to have the same exact pile of tasteless goo for lunch because that was company policy. Taste was not important as long as it had all the necessary nutrition. Anyone who tried to break any company rules would face termination. No one had ever tried to break the rules because for the simple reason it wasn't allowed.

x

I was only one of the many faces in the company; a number to the company. I wasn't significant to them in the slightest. I could be replaced at anytime and by anyone without being noticed.

My job wasn't anything interesting either. Every single day, I assembled as many toy robots using my small rubber hammer as fast as I could. I don't know what the purpose of my job was. Like everyone else in the crowd, I was just doing what I was told and doing things in the exact steps that I was told.

There was a daily quota, but it was set to an astronomical number that was impossible to achieve. The company knew that the quota wasn't possible, yet they still decided that it would be a goal. Each day, they would continuously add more to the already impossible goal. Maybe this was to give a reason for the superiors to send us passive aggressive emails about.

x

The robots were not hard to assemble either. There were multiple steps to constructing a robot, 30 to be exact. The steps to assemble the robot was unnecessary long and tedious. The 30-steps process could be shortened down to 10 steps, but creativity was not approved by the company. If anyone tried to do anything outside of the 30-steps, you would be terminated and sent to a rehabilitation center for reeducation.

How would the company know if you didn't follow each step exactly? They had cameras everywhere. If you looked at the ceiling tiles above you, there were eyes of the sky all over the place, and one in every cubicle. For every worker in each cubicle, there was another worker on a different floor monitoring that worker through the cameras. Then another worker on a different floor would monitor the other worker. And so on so forth.

After work, I returned to the residential area by subway. From the station, I would grab the only type of bento box available from the convenience store on the way home. Even though the bento box looked better than the goo from lunch, it was just as tasteless.

The only one that waits for me at home and keeps me company everyday is Xiao Qiao. When I arrive at home, the lily of the valley greets me. The delicate white flowers on bobbed up and down from the wind created by the opening of the door.

After showering and ironing my clothes for the next day, it was time for bed again. When I open my eyes in the morning, the day repeats. Besides the change in weather and season, my daily routines doesn't change. Everyday was similar to the next. Nothing ever changes. Everything stays exactly the same in this mundane, inefficient, predictable world.

x

Conformity was the law of the world. The companies wanted mindlessly corporate slaves. The world wanted compliant citizens. Individuality would cause conflict. Conflict could lead to violence. Thus, individuality was frowned upon in the world. There was no need to learn right or wrong about things for yourself. Conformity solved everything. Conformity was the law. If you didn't conform, you were in the wrong.

There wasn't anything to complain about. From what I can recall, I have been living like this for a long time. It has been so long that I don't remember any other way of living. I can't even begin to imagine how chaotic it would be if life wasn't like this. Conformity was good; conformity was safe; conformity was perfection.

This was the world I live in. Life was the same as the colors and flavors of the world around me: bland.

This was my way of life until I ran into a strange man with an umbrella one spring morning.

x

My morning didn't particular start off any different. I only felt a bit sleep deprived due to problems sleeping the night before.

That particular night, I just couldn't get comfortable. It was too hot. It was too cold. I changed sleeping positions multiple times in the night to try to get comfortable. When I finally managed to get comfortable, my alarm clock woke me up. When I got ready for the day, I had an uneasy feeling in my gut. It was a feeling that somehow my peace was going to be destroyed.

I looked at the calendar when I got up. Was it time for that time of the month?

Grabbing the necessary protection on my way out of my small apartment, I made my way to the subway station, and then to my regular coffee shop before work.

Today was gloomy and rainy. A constant drizzle fell on the sidewalks and roads. To avoid getting wetter than necessary, I walked more briskly to the company. Then, something unexpected happened.

When I rounded the corner of the coffee shop, I walked straight into a man with an umbrella. The impact wasn't hard enough to make me fall, but I did spill the liquid all over my pristine blouse. I looked down at the damage, stunned. I looked up and locked gaze with a pair of dark honey colored eyes.

x

On a late spring rainy day, a rainbow appeared in this grayscale world.

* * *

Might be a confusing chapter, but things will explained in the next two chapter. Free to leave a guess as to what's going on. Thanks for reading!


End file.
